Gateshead permit scheme for road works and street works
Key performance indicators
The following set of key performance indicators are intended to assist in demonstrating parity between work promoters.
This data was collected using Gateshead's street work register system, Mayrise.
- KPI 1 - The number of permit applications and variations received, the number granted, and the number refused.
- KPI 3 - The number of requests received to extend an ongoing activity
- KPI 7 - Permit Inspections to check compliance with permit conditions
- OM 6 - Collaborative phases and the numbers of calendar and working days
- AM 5 - Fixed Penalty Notices Permit Breaches
KPI 1 - The total figures received of permit types, variations, granted and refused applications.
These will be shown as Highway Authority (HA) and Statutory Undertaker (SU)
| Permit application (includes all types) | HA 2022 to 2023 | SU 2022 to 2023 | HA 2021 to 2022 | SU 2021 to 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Received | 2762 (0.6% inc) | 9698 (54% incr) | 2745 | 6266 |
| Granted | 2613 (5.1% decr) | 7938 (48.9% incr) | 2576 | 5330 |
| Refused | 78 (25% incr) | 893 (108% incr) | 62 | 429 |
| Cancelled (after either granting and refusing) | 221 (11.6% incr) | 1731 (85% incr) | 198 | 932 |
Breakdown of the various types of permit received
| Type | HA 2022 to 2023 | SU 2022 to 2023 | HA 2021 to 2022 | SU 2021 to 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Major (excludes PAA) | 489 (13% incr) | 1285 (64% incr) | 432 | 784 |
| Standard | 508 (9% decr) | 2586 (79% incr) | 559 | 1444 |
| Minor | 1605 (3.5% decr) | 3543 (70% incr) | 1662 | 2081 |
| Immediate (Urgent) | 6 (500% incr) | 1837 (13% incr) | 1 | 1625 |
| Immediate (Emergency) | 154 (69% incr) | 447 (34% incr) | 91 | 332 |
The data shows that roughly 22% of all permit applications received are from the Highway Authority while the remaining 78% are from Statutory Undertakers.
This differs from 30% HA and 70% SU in 2021/22, which shows that the amount of permits generated from the Statutory Undertakers has increased.
We expect this to steady at around the 25%/75% split moving forward.
Number of permits received per Statutory Undertaker (SU)
The amount in brackets are 2021 to 2022 figures.
| SU | Total number of permits submitted | Number of permits refused |
|---|---|---|
| Openreach | 1301 (1293) | 169 (73) |
| Northern Powergrid | 1017 (1149) | 65 (56) |
| Network Rail | 75 (79) | 23 (16) |
| Virgin Media | 1332 (519) | 94 (35) |
| Telefonica O2 | 75 (56) | 15 (8) |
| GTC | 17 (4) | 3 (0) |
| EE | 99 (185) | 20 (78) |
| Hutchison 3G | 52 (0) | 17 (0) |
| Northern Gas Networks | 990 (857) | 98 (41) |
| City Fibre | 2303 (217) | 202 (59) |
| Grain Connect | 79 (0) | 14 (0) |
| Energy Assets Ltd | 23 (28) | 10 (5) |
| Wildcard | 1 (9) | 0 (0) |
| Murphy Power Distribution | 9 (6) | 1 (0) |
| Nexfibre | 416 (0) | 43 (0) |
| Northumbrian Water | 1803 (1775) | 95 (53) |
| National Highways | 105 (12) | 24 (0) |
Most permits were granted first time. The statutory undertakers are now used to submitting permits and as such, the quality of the permits submitted has enabled the permit team to grant the application first time.
We have seen a nearly 1000% increase in permit submissions from the telecoms companies in the year 2022/23 which resulted in an increase in workloads and inspections.
The permit refusals remained constant, and these included clashes of works where collaborative working is not possible, to time constraints or activities are required to only take place at specified times to minimise the disruption to the highway. Other reasons for refusals include insufficient information provided, incorrect location shown on the permit, or inappropriate traffic management, to name but a few.
KPI 3 - The number of requests received to extend an ongoing activity
Identifying and controlling instances of approved extensions support the objectives of the Gateshead Permit Scheme to reduce unnecessary occupation
The reasons for requesting an extension to ongoing works varied from unforeseen engineering difficulties discovered when works commenced, additional time to find leaks on emergency permits to adverse weather conditions, but also to poor planning by the statutory undertaker.
The number of requests has increased due to the increase in permit submissions and the poor planning by some of the newer statutory undertakers.
| Highway Authority | Statutory Undertaker | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 412 (2021/22 = 257) | 823 (2021/22 = 433) | 1235 (2021/22 = 690) |
KPI 7 - Permit condition inspections
For the first 2 years of the permit scheme (April 20 to March 22) the streetworks permit team only had 1 streetworks inspector. In May 2022 the Streetworks team employed an additional streetworks inspector allowing more permit condition inspections to be undertaken.
You can see from the table below that the number of permit conditions inspections increased from 457 in 2021 to 2022 to 1079 in 2022 to 2023 and the average failure rate of permit inspections is 22.52% compared to 7.88% in 2021 to 2022, this can be attributed to the increase in inspections and scrutiny that the 2 inspectors are undertaking. The failure rate differs between Statutory Undertakers.
The breaches of permit conditions can include not displaying the correct permit number, not complying with the agreed working hours as stipulated on the permit or failure to adhere to the traffic management arrangements in place, amongst others.
In the table 2021 to 2022 figures are shown in ()
| SU | Number of passed permit inspections | Number of compliant inspections | Total number of permit inspections | % fail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Openreach | 91 (67) | 11 (2) | 102 (69) | 10.78% (2.9%) |
| Northern Power Grid | 145(71) | 16 (5) | 161 (76) | 9.94% |
| Network Rail | 0 (1) | 2 (0) | 2 (1) | 100% (0%) |
| Virgin Media | 44 (3) | 32 (4) | 76 (7) | 42.11% (54.14%) |
| O2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 50% |
| GTC | 0 | 2 | 2 | 100% |
| Northern Gas Networks | 124 (62) | 35 (6) | 159 (68) | 22.01% (8.82%) |
| City Fibre | 126 (4) | 86 (6) | 212 (10) | 40.57% (60%) |
| Grain Communications | 2 | 6 | 8 | 75% |
| Energy Assets | 3 | 1 | 4 | 25% |
| Wildcard | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0% |
| MUA | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0% |
| Nexfibre | 15 | 6 | 21 | 28.57% |
| Northumbrian Water | 278 (213) | 44 (13) | 322 (226) | 13.66% (5.75%) |
| Totals | 836 (421) | 243 (36) | 1079 (457) | 22.52% (7.88%) |
In addition to the Department for Transports KPIs, the Gateshead Scheme sets out several Operational Measures that provide further insight into the way scheme is being operated and the success of the scheme.
The number of permit applications where collaborative working took place reducing the duration of the activities.
Operational Measure OM6 details the total of collaborative phases and the numbers of calendar and working days saved for the Highway Authority and Statutory Undertaker works for April 2022 to March 2023.
| Period | Collaborative phases | Working days saved | Calendar days saved | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HA | SU | Total | HA | SU | Total | HA | SU | Total | |||
| April 2022 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| May 2022 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | ||
| June 2022 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 19 | 19 | 0 | 21 | 21 | ||
| July 2022 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| August 2022 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 16 | 16 | 0 | 22 | 22 | ||
| September 2022 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 5 | ||
| October 2022 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 13 | 13 | ||
| November 2022 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| December 2022 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||
| January 2023 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 14 | 0 | 14 | 14 | ||
| February 2023 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 14 | 0 | 18 | 18 | ||
| March 2023 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 9 | 9 | ||
| Total 2021 to 2022 | 0 (2) | 16 (30) | 16 (32) | 0 (5) | 81 (492) | 81 (497) | 0 (7) | 102 (680) | 102 (687) | ||
The table above shows how disruption on the network was reduced as a result of collaborative works taking place. Gateshead Council actively promotes collaborative works where possible. In the quarterly streetworks coordination meetings works promoters and works programme information on planned future activities are shared this helps identify potential collaborative working.
The figures for the number of days saved by collaborative working in 2022 to 2023 are much lower than those of 2021 to 2022, and whilst this may be alarming it can be attributed to the fact that collaborative working was simply not possible given the nature of the works that were being undertaken.
Authority Measure AM5 - Fixed Penalty Notice - Permit Breaches
Year 3 data has been gathered from Mayrise which shows the number of Fixed Penalty Notices issued for permit breaches including withdrawn Fixed Penalty Notices.
The table below shows that the permit authority served Fixed Penalty Notice and were withdrawn
The reasons for the Fixed Penalty Notices are listed here
- 70(6) Failure to comply with requirements to give notice of completion of reinstatement
- 74(7B) Failure to give a notice required by regulations under s74 (charge for occupation of the highway where works unreasonably delayed)
- 19(1) Working without a permit
- 20(1) Breach of permit conditions
Gateshead streetworks permit team only had 1 streetworks inspector for 2021 to 2022 so the amount of FPNs relating to 19(1) and 20(1) working without a permit and working in breach of permit conditions is severely limited, and this is demonstrated in the data below. In May 2022 the Streetworks team employed an additional streetworks inspector allowing more permit inspections to be undertaken and the figures show has been a dramatic increase in the number of FPNs issued for breach of conditions and that is solely down capturing the breaches whilst on site.
The 2021 to 2022 figures are in ()
| Fixed penalty notices issued | Fixed penalty notices withdrawn | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 70 | 74 | 19 | 20 | Total | 70 | 74 | 19 | 20 | Total | ||
| Highways England | 0 | 26(44) | 0 | 0 | 26(44) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Openreach | 4(17) | 13(40) | 0(1) | 11(6) | 28(64) | 1(1) | 0(6) | 0(0) | 0(1) | 1(8) | |
| Gateshead Council | 0(1) | 101(154) | 7(10) | 9(3) | 117(168) | 0(11) | 2(0) | 0(0) | 0(0) | 2(11) | |
| Northern powergrid | 7(5) | 19(28) | 1(5) | 17(5) | 44(43) | 0(1) | 3(1) | 1(1) | 0(0) | 5(3) | |
| Network Rail | 0 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Virgin Media | 17(1) | 21(3) | 1(0) | 42(4) | 81(8) | 0(0) | 2(0) | 0(1) | 1(1) | 3(2) | |
| Telefonica o2 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 1 | 1(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| GTC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| EE Ltd | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Northern Gas Networks | 3(3) | 25(37) | 0(2) | 42(7) | 70(49) | 0 | 0(1) | 1(1) | 1 | 2(2) | |
| City Fibre | 3 | 18(2) | 11(1) | 118(4) | 150(7) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| Grain Connect | 0 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Energy Assets Networks | 0 | 0(3) | 0 | 1 | 1(3) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| MUA | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Nexfibre | 0 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Northumbrian Water | 2(7) | 92(145) | 6(15) | 60(10) | 160(177) | 0 | 2(9) | 1 | 2(1) | 5(10) | |
| Total | 36(35) | 336(457) | 29(34) | 316(39) | 717(565) | 1(13) | 9(17) | 3(3) | 8(3) | 21(36) | |
Financial Information
It is generally accepted that permit schemes can take up to three years become financially stable. A full review of the cost benefit analysis will be undertaken after the third anniversary of the scheme. Gateshead Council anticipates additional permit scheme-related costs within this three-year period.
The permit authority will review its level of fees in line with regulations to ensure that the overall fee income does not exceed the allowable costs, to ensure that the scheme remains as close to financial balance as possible over the medium term.
| 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 | |||
| Permit fee income £ | Expenditure (staff) £ | Expenditure (other) £ | Net surplus £ |
| 407,118.90 | 348,401,77 | 35,015.26 | 23,701.87 |
| 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 | |||
| Permit fee income £ | Expenditure (staff) £ | Expenditure (other) £ | Net surplus £ |
| 271,818.30 | 238,915.20 | 27,628 | 5,275.10 |
| 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 | |||
| Permit fee income £ | Expenditure (staff) £ | Expenditure (other) £ | Net Surplus £ |
| 238,004 | 115,408 | 28,578 | 94,018 |
| Operational costs (staffing and non staffing) | Permit revenue | Surplus |
|---|---|---|
| £383,417.03 | £407,118.90 | £23,701.87 |
The scheme made an operating surplus of £23,701 in year three, this is an acceptable tolerance in a cost neutral scheme, but consideration will be given to amending the permit fees in future years.