'Lorries not to blame'
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HEAVY LORRIES are not the main pipes, the Freight Transport Asso Department of Transport inquiry. It has submitted its views to a DTp review panel which is investigating the operation of the 1950 Public Utilities Street Works Act. The Act governs the standards of resurfacing of roads after they are dug up by providers of underground services like gas, water and electricity authorities.
The ETA report firmly rejects the claim that heavy lorries are the main cause of damage to underground services, and points out that because many sewers were laid in Victorian times they are now reaching the end of their working lives. That some have failed already is hardly the fault of heavy lorries, according to the ETA.
"Heavy axles do not damage pipelines which are properly laid and in good condition. However, if there is any weakness in a road, the heavy axle will seek out and aggravate the weakness," it said.
Among other points, the ETA wants to ensure that repairs are resurfaced properly to ensure that there is no need to carry out correction soon after, and it is keen that there should be better signposting and lighting of cause of damage to underground ciation has said in evidence to a roadworks.
It says it accepts that it is vital for underground services to be repaired to protect their use for the nation, but says a balance should be struck between the needs of the utilities and the cost that roadworks impose on industry.
The report calls for the separate utilities to try to co-ordinate their activities to reduce the risk of one section of road being dug up on successive occasions by different organisations.