Rotherham Council is looking to better control how utility companies dig up the roads, and ensure roadworks are carried out quicker and safer.
The Council’s Cabinet is to consider a plan to extend the current scheme which operates on the busiest roads to now cover the entire borough.
The existing scheme has reduced time spent on road works on Rotherham’s busiest roads by around 1,800 days per year, and it is estimated that the extension of the scheme will further reduce the time spent on roadworks in Rotherham by an extra 6,200 days per year.
Councillor Emma Hoddinott, Cabinet Member for Waste, Roads and Community Safety at Rotherham Council, said: “It’s infuriating for road users to see the same road dug up by different utility companies in quick succession or journeys delayed by roadworks when there doesn’t appear to be any work taking place.
“We can’t stop roadworks but we can have much greater control over when, where and how work is carried out to our roads.”
A key benefit of the permit scheme will enable the Council to manage the coordination of works to reduce traffic disruption.