The mayor of Bristol is phoning up company bosses asking them to speed up long-delayed roadworks across the city. Amid calls to issue heavy fines to companies who take too long to carry out roadworks, Marvin Rees said he was “really frustrated” with frequent delays.
Roadworks in Bristol often take months longer than they’re scheduled to, sometimes causing tailbacks of cars as drivers wait at temporary traffic lights. Works at the top of Stoke Hill, for example, were described as “making very slow progress and a real pain”, by one local councillor.
Bristol City Council has fined the contractors carrying out roadworks on Stoke Hill three times, but the level of fines charged are relatively small for major companies, £120, and set nationally. The mayor was asked what action the council was taking to speed up roadworks.
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During a member forum meeting on December 13, Conservative Councillor John Goulandris, representing Stoke Bishop, said “Wales and West Utilities are currently upgrading gas pipelines in my ward. They have been working on the top part of Stoke Hill for the past few months, making very slow progress. There are many days when no work is undertaken.
“The road requires three-way temporary traffic lights, inevitably causing long tailbacks of traffic, especially at peak times. These roadworks have been a real pain and I’m pleased they have been inspected by the council, and even more pleased the contractors were fined. They have been very slow and very poor. Is it possible for these fines to be even bigger?”
Inspectors from the council have visited the roadworks three times, once in August and twice in October. The council fined the contractors for “working beyond permitted timescales” and failing to comply with rules on signs and lights.
Mr Rees said: “This has been a point of real frustration for me. We’ve worked incredibly hard to try and get what I called ‘no idle roadworks’ — somebody changed it to ‘active roadworks’, but what can I do, I’m just the mayor. How many times have you gone past roadworks and thought ‘what’s going on there’? There’s a whole set of things we wanted to happen, like signage saying ‘this road is being dug up for this reason’.
“Sometimes when you don’t see people doing anything it’s because they have to leave the pipes open while they get the initial, whatever it is, running through the pipes to see if there’s any leaks. So there isn’t anyone there, but stuff is happening.
“I continually talk to the transport team about being harder in our negotiations and firmer in our fines. I’ve actually phoned up companies myself from my office, I’ve called the chief execs and said ‘you’ve failed to deliver on time, there are consequences for people in Bristol, not just inconveniences but financial consequences’.
“Sometimes we have chief execs who want to do the right thing, who don’t know that things are underperforming, or they need to be reminded or alerted — just like I do sometimes — that things aren’t going the way they want. We really are working hard to make sure we’re getting on top of the city’s roadworks.”
