Decision details

To seek formal approval to:
a) amend the existing North Yorkshire Permit Scheme documentation to reflect:

- an increase in permit fees to the maximum level allowed by the Department for Transport (DfT)

- a reduction in the discounts offered to incentivise collaborate working and project works from 50% to 30% and

b) recruit resource for the forthcoming Lane Rental Scheme as part of the same recruitment campaign in alignment with DfT guidance and local authority objectives.

Approval to go out to consultation for amendments to the existing Permit Scheme, as detailed in Appendices B – E of the report and proceed with the recruitment of additional staff to strengthen the existing Permit Scheme following the increase with the potential to also recruit staff for the proposed Lane Rental Scheme if the Lane Rental application is given approval by the Department for Transport (DfT).

Subject to approval of this report, the Authority will look to amend the existing North Yorkshire Permit Scheme Documentation for consultation with key stakeholders for a period of four weeks and comments in relation to the changes will be fed back to officers for review.

There is the option that the Authority could choose to make no changes to the fees or staffing and continue with its current permit scheme operational documents, however lack of resource poses significant risk to operation. Continued workload pressures and keeping the fees at the existing level will result in the scheme running at a loss.

If successful in our Lane Rental application with the DfT, early recruitment and training can take place in the three months between the initial approval and the Statutory Instrument, resulting in go live taking place shortly after.

Further delay in resourcing the Permit Scheme may result in declining performance and compliance.

The uplift is in line with the Traffic Management Permit Scheme (England) Regulations 2007 and as set out in the statutory guidance and supported by transparent cost recovery justification. There is also a benefit to Undertakers in that all the schemes in the Yorkshire area will operate the same way, lending itself to the issue of parity, which the permit scheme is designed to do.