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<p>The Government has made no specific assessment, although under the New Roads and
Street Works Act 1991, the street authority has a duty to co-ordinate all works on
its road network in order to minimise inconvenience to road users, and utilities have
a duty to co-operate with them in doing that. Utility companies have statutory powers
to carry out works to maintain or install their apparatus in the street to provide
the services that we all rely on. The Government works closely with both local highway
authorities and utilities to help them deliver those duties effectively.</p><p> </p><p>The
Traffic Management Act 2004 also places a 'Network Management Duty' on authorities
to keep traffic moving as far as practical and enables authorities to introduce permit
schemes for street works to help them to do that. In 2012, the Government increased
the penalties that local authorities can impose where street works by utility companies
overrun their agreed duration, up to a maximum charge of £10,000 a day. We are also
carrying out a trial of ‘Lane Rental’ on Transport for London and Kent County Council’s
networks. This allows authorities to charge utilities to work on the busiest roads
at the busiest times. We are currently looking at the impacts of those schemes.</p><p>
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