Lincolnshire County Council praise Anglian Water for improvements although still work to do

Lincolnshire County Council has praised Anglian Water for its improvements, 15 months after it was accused of causing detrimental issues for the highways team.

Although officers acknowledged more work is needed, they praised the regulated water and sewage company for its positive improvements, which have led to more road closures being completed within three days and fewer Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) offences.

During a Highways and Transport Committee meeting on Monday (September 16), councillors reviewed a report on Anglian Water's quality of work and traffic management progress since their attendance at previous committee meetings.

The firm came under scrutiny in April 2023 for several issues, including:

* Inconsistency in removing road closure signs when not needed or when teams are not on site

* Inconsistency in contacting Lincolnshire County Council for agreement prior to implementing an immediate road closure

* Setting up traffic management before confirming a team is available to attend the site

* Failing to provide Lincolnshire County Council with diversion information for emergency road closures and failing to apply for Temporary Traffic Regulation Order notices

* 250 outstanding defects older than six months

* An increase in fines and penalties for Anglian Water in 2021.

Ashley Behan, street works and permitting manager at LCC, outlined that since discussions about Anglian Water's improvement began, the company has worked extremely collaboratively with the council and has shown a clear desire to improve.

He shared that at the outset of Anglian Water's attendance at the committee meetings, they completed an average of 52% of road closures within three days. This has since risen to 71%.

Both parties have agreed that 80% could be achievable in the near future and are continuing to work towards that goal.

Despite increased on-site monitoring, the number of FPN offences identified for Anglian Water works reduced by 45% throughout 2023/24.

According to the report, 70% of the offences issued relate to 'administrative' breaches, which, although legislative violations, are unlikely to have a direct impact on road users.

Furthermore, since April 2023, Anglian Water has also reduced Section 74 overstay offences—where work continues after the agreed permit dates expire—by 75% and has generally been providing more information to the public on immediate works.

"We recognise that there is still more work to do and we are working very closely together to continue those improvements," said Mr Behan.

"We would like to see more collaboration, particularly around new development sites which are typically the most impactful from roadworks because of the number of utilities that need to work."

He added: "Things are heading in the right direction."

Councillor Tom Ashton (Conservative) was among those who welcomed the improvements, saying: "Given where we started these discussions 15 months ago, it really does seem like progress has been made."

He urged the firm to be mindful of where it places road closure ahead signs, which prompted Ashley to share that discussions are underway about information signs that would provide further details about which villages or towns could still be accessed.

Councillor Michael Brookes (Conservative) was also please with the improvements, adding: "You can see it when you're driving around that the problems we've had with Anglian Water previously are not as prolific."