Executive Summary
Everyone expects highway functions, including road maintenance and street works, (road works that are initiated by utility companies) to be delivered effectively. Currently, highway and street authorities can choose to deliver these services through partner organisations.
Partner organisations can only carry out those statutory functions, without reference to the authority, that have been subject to a contracting out order.
The Government is proposing that a number of additional highway functions will be able to be contracted out.
To reflect the current position the Secretary of State functions are, at present, are set out in a separate draft order from the local authority functions.
How to Respond
The consultation period will run until 22 February 2008. Please ensure that your response reaches us by that date. Further copies of this consultation document can be found online at http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/open/contractingout , or you can contact Elizabeth Godden. Please send the completed consultation pro-forma to streetworks-contractingout@dft.gsi.gov.uk.
Or if in hard copy to:
Contracting out Consultation
Street works 2
Traffic Management Division
Department for Transport
Zone 2/07
Great Minister House
76 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DR.
When responding please state whether you are responding as an individual or representing the views of an organisation. If responding on behalf of a larger organisation please make it clear who the organisation represents and, where applicable, how the views of members were assembled.
A list of those consulted is part of this consultation package. If you have any suggestions of others who may wish to be involved in this process please contact us.
The information you send us may need to be passed to colleagues within The Department for Transport and published in a summary of responses received in response to this consultation along with a response from the Government. We will assume that you are content for us to do this, and that if you are replying by e-mail, your consent overrides any confidentiality disclaimer that is generated by your organisation's IT system, unless you specifically include a request to the contrary in the main text of your submission to us.
Please ensure that if you want your name or response to be kept confidential, you state this clearly in your response.
