The Road Works (Scottish Road Works Register, Notices, Directions and Designations) (Scotland) Regulations 2008

Made: 5th March 2008

Laid before the Scottish Parliament: 6th March 2008

Coming into force: 1st April 2008

In accordance with section 163A of that Act[^f00002] they have consulted with such– persons considered by them to be representative of the interests of undertakers; road works authorities; and other persons, as they think appropriate.

persons considered by them to be representative of the interests of undertakers;

road works authorities; and

other persons,

Citation and commencement

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These Regulations may be cited as the Road Works (Scottish Road Works Register, Notices, Directions and Designations) (Scotland) Regulations 2008 and come into force on 1st April 2008.

Interpretation

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• (1) In these Regulations–

• “the Act” means the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991;

• “day” means a working day;

• “electronic communication” has the meaning given in section 15(1) of the Electronic Communications Act 2000 (general interpretation)[^f00003];

• “major works” means– road works by an undertaker (other than minor works)– which have been identified specifically in the undertaker’s annual operating programme or which, if not specifically identified in that programme, are normally planned at least six months in advance of work commencing; where an order is required under section 14 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (temporary prohibition or restriction on roads)[^f00004] for any works other than emergency works; other than emergency works and urgent works, in a multi-lane road that is a traffic-sensitive road where one or more lanes are closed to enable the works to take place; or other than emergency works and urgent works, which have a duration in excess of 10 days and for which traffic control is required for 3 or more of those days in accordance with the Code of Practice “Safety at Street Works and Road Works” 2001[^f00005]; and works for road purposes by a road works authority (other than minor works)– which have been identified specifically in a roads authority’s annual operating programme or which, if not specifically identified in that programme, are normally planned at least 6 months in advance of work commencing; where an order is required under section 14 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 for any works other than emergency works; other than emergency works and urgent works, in a multi-lane road that is a traffic-sensitive road where one or more lanes are closed to enable the works to take place; or other than emergency works and urgent works, which have a duration in excess of 10 days and for which traffic control is required for 3 or more of those days in accordance with the Code of Practice “Safety at Street Works and Road Works” 2001;

• “minor works” means– road works by an undertaker (not being emergency works or urgent works) whether in the footway, verge or carriageway, which are of a planned duration of not more than 3 days, do not form part of a rolling programme and do not involve at any one time more than 30 metres of works or 20 square metres of reinstatement, or leave less than the minimum width of carriageway necessary for one way traffic in accordance with the Code of Practice “Safety at Street Works and Road Works” 2001; and works for roads purposes by a road works authority (not being emergency works or urgent works) whether in the footway, verge or carriageway, which are of a planned duration of not more than 3 days, do not form part of a rolling programme and do not involve at any one time more than 30 metres of works or 20 square metres of reinstatement or leave less than the minimum width of carriageway necessary for one way traffic in accordance with the Code of Practice “Safety at Street Works and Road Works” 2001;

• “month” means a calendar month;

• “responsible authority”, other than in regulation 14 where it has the same meaning as in section 149(4) (provisions as to reinstatement of sewers, drains or tunnels), means the local or national authority that has current responsibility for naming or numbering a road, identified by an authority code allocated by the Office for National Statistics;

• “statutory undertaker” means an undertaker who is entitled to carry out road works by virtue of a statutory right;

• “standard works” means– road works by an undertaker; and works for road purposes by a road works authority, which are not emergency works, urgent works, minor works or major works;

• “traffic control” means any of the 5 methods of controlling traffic detailed in the Code of Practice “Safety at Street Works and Road Works” 2001;

• “traffic sensitive road” means a road designated by a road works authority as traffic sensitive pursuant to section 123 (traffic-sensitive roads) and in a case where a limited designation is made pursuant to section 123(3) any reference to works in a traffic sensitive road shall be construed as a reference to works to be executed at the times and dates specified in such a designation;

• “unique street reference number” means the reference number uniquely identifying a road allocated by a responsible authority compiling a street gazetteer compliant with the publication issued by the British Standards Institution on 15th June 1993 entitled “Spatial data – sets for geographic referencing” under reference No. BS 7666, which shall not be changed if the responsibility changes from one authority to another;

• “unit of inspection” has the same meaning as in regulation 3(3) (inspection fees) of the Road Works (Inspection Fees) (Scotland) Regulations 2003[^f00006]; and

• “urgent works” means– road works by an undertaker (not being emergency works) whose execution at the time they are executed is required (or which the person responsible for the works believes on reasonable grounds to be required)– to prevent or put an end to an unplanned interruption of any supply or service provided by the undertaker; to avoid substantial loss to the undertaker in relation to an existing service; or to reconnect supplies or services where the undertaker would be under a civil or criminal liability if the reconnection is delayed until after the expiration of the appropriate notice period, and include works which cannot reasonably be severed from such works; and works for road purposes by a road works authority (not being emergency works) whose execution at the time they are executed is required (or which the person responsible for the works believes on reasonable grounds to be required) to prevent or put an end to an unplanned obstruction of any part of the road and includes works which cannot reasonably be severed from such works.

• (2) Unless otherwise provided a reference in these Regulations to a numbered section is a reference to the section bearing that number in the Act.

• (3) References in these Regulations to–

• (a) the Code of Practice “Safety at Street Works and Road Works” 2001;

• (b) the publication issued by the British Standards Institution on 15th June 1993 entitled “Spatial data – sets for geographic referencing” under reference No. BS 7666; and

• (c) the Specification for the Reinstatement of Openings in Roads (October 2003)[^f00007],

operate as references to those documents as revised or re issued from time to time.

The Scottish Road Works Register

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• (1) For the purposes of section 112A(2) (the Scottish Road Works Register), the SRWR[^f00008] shall be kept in such form and manner so as to enable the information referred to in paragraphs (2) to (7) relating to a particular road to be traced and shall be indexed and be in a form which complies with the system of street referencing specified in Part I of the publication issued by the British Standards Institution on 15th June 1993 entitled “Spatial data – sets for geographic referencing” under reference No. BS 7666.

• (2) For the purposes of section 112B(1) (duty to enter certain information in the Scottish Road Works Register), the prescribed particulars of each road are–

• (a) the name of the responsible authority;

• (b) the unique street reference number of the road;

• (c) the designated name or description allocated to the road by the responsible authority;

• (d) the British National Grid co ordinates of the extremity points of the road;

• (e) the name of the road works authority;

• (f) the reinstatement category of the road as defined in S1.3 and S1.4 of the Specification for the Reinstatement of Openings in Roads (October 2003);

• (g) details of any designation of the road as a protected road pursuant to section 121 (supplementary provisions as to designation of protected roads), a traffic sensitive road or a road having special engineering difficulties pursuant to section 122 (roads with special engineering difficulties), as follows–

• (i) the type of designation;

• (ii) whether it applies to the whole road or a part of it;

• (iii) the British National Grid co ordinates of the start and end points of the designation; and

• (iv) details of the dates and times when the designation as a traffic-sensitive road applies if it does not apply at all dates and times,

and details of any withdrawal of any such designation;

• (h) details of the location and general description of apparatus found in a road and notified to the road works authority under section 139(2)(b) (duty to inform undertakers of location of apparatus);

• (i) details of any notice given pursuant to section 144(2)(a) (sharing of cost of necessary measures);

• (j) the location and description of works for which plans and sections have been submitted to the road works authority under Schedule 6 to the Act (roads with special engineering difficulties); and

• (k) details of any notice given by a road works authority under Schedule 6 to the Act.

• (3) For the purposes of section 112B(2), (4) and (5) the information to be entered in the SRWR is prescribed to be as follows–

• (i) a unique reference number;

• (ii) the date and time of entry;

• (iii) the expected start date;

• (iv) the expected completion date;

• (v) the type of works;

• (vi) whether the works are to be carried out in a traffic sensitive road;

• (vii) whether the works are to be carried out in a road designated pursuant to section 122 as being a road having special engineering difficulties;

• (viii) the location of the works described by the address of the nearest premises, but only where those premises are within 200 metres of the works;

• (ix) the unique street reference number of the road in which the works are to be carried out;

• (x) the British National Grid co ordinates of the mid-point of the works; and

• (xi) a general description of the works.

• (4) For the purposes of section 112B(2), the time by which the information listed in paragraph (3) shall be entered in the SRWR is prescribed to be as follows–

• (i) in the case of major works, 3 months before the date proposed for the start of the works;

• (ii) in the case of standard works in a traffic sensitive road, 1 month before the date proposed for the start of the works;

• (iii) in the case of standard works in a road which is not a traffic sensitive road, 7 days before the date proposed for the start of the works;

• (iv) in the case of minor works involving excavation in a traffic sensitive road, 1 month before the date proposed for the start of the works;

• (v) in the case of minor works involving excavation in a road which is not a traffic sensitive road, by noon on the day before the day on which works are proposed to start; and

• (vi) in the case of minor works not involving excavation in a traffic sensitive road, 3 days before the date proposed for the start of the works.

• (5) For the purposes of section 112B(3), the information to be entered in the SRWR is prescribed to be a copy of the permission or direction as appropriate.

• (6) For the purposes of section 112B(6), the information to be entered in the SRWR is prescribed to be as follows–

• (a) the date of the completion of the works; and

• (b) the location of the works as completed described by the address of the nearest premises, but only where those premises are within 200 metres of the works.

• (7) For the purposes of section 112B(7), the information to be entered in the SRWR in relation to each matter in column (1) of Schedule 1 is prescribed to be that shown in the corresponding entry in column (2) of that Schedule.

• (8) For the purposes of section 112B(8), information to be entered in the SRWR under section 112B shall be entered in a form and manner consistent with paragraph 3(1).

Prescribed notice

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• (1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), any notice for the purposes of sections 113 (advance notice of certain works), 114 (notice of starting date of works) and 116 (notice of emergency works) shall contain the following information–

• (a) a unique reference number;

• (b) the date and time of entry;

• (c) the expected start date or, in the case of emergency works where the work has already started by the time of the giving of the notice under section 116, the actual start date and time at which the works started;

• (d) the expected completion date;

• (e) the type of works;

• (f) whether the works are to be carried out in a traffic sensitive road;

• (g) whether the works are to be carried out in a road designated pursuant to section 122 as being a road having special engineering difficulties;

• (h) the location of the works described by the address of the nearest premises, but only where those premises are within 200 metres of the works;

• (i) the unique street reference number of the road in which the works are to be carried out;

• (j) the British National Grid co ordinates of the mid-point of the works; and

• (k) a general description of the works.

• (2) Paragraph (1)(c) does not apply to a notice for the purposes of section 114[^f00009].

• (3) Any notice for the purposes of sections 114 and 116 shall also contain the undertaker’s estimate of the number of units of inspection which will arise in relation to the works to which the notice relates.

• (4) Any notice required or authorised to be given for the purposes of any provision of Part 4 of the Act, other than section 154A[^f00010] and Schedule 6B[^f00011] to the Act (which both relate to fixed penalties for certain offences under Part 4), shall be in writing (which may be in the form of an electronic communication where that may be used to serve a notice pursuant to regulation 5), and shall refer to the provision of the Act pursuant to which it is given and may be in any form.

Prescribed manner of service of notices

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• (1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (4), where under the Act or these Regulations an undertaker is under an obligation to give notice within a specified period of works beginning, such notice, at the option of the person giving it, shall be given by–

• (a) sending it to the person to whom it is addressed at that person’s proper address by using an electronic communication in accordance with the conditions set out in paragraph (5);

• (b) delivering it to that person at that address; or

• (c) any other means agreed between the person giving it and the person to whom it is to be sent.

• (2) Where the person to whom an undertaker is obliged to give such notice does not have arrangements for receiving and responding to notices for any period between 4.30 pm and 9.00 am the following day, the undertaker shall have complied with that obligation if the undertaker serves a notice by 10.00 am on that following day.

• (3) Subject to paragraph (4), in any other case under the Act or these Regulations, where any person is required or authorised to give a notice, such notice, at the option of the person giving it, shall be given by–

• (a) sending it to the person to whom it is to be given at that person’s proper address by using an electronic communication in accordance with the conditions set out in paragraph (5);

• (b) delivering it to the person;

• (c) leaving it at the person’s proper address;

• (d) sending it by first class post to the person at their proper address; or

• (e) any other means agreed between the person giving it and the person to whom it is to be sent.

• (4) Paragraphs (1)(a) and (3)(a) shall only apply where the person to whom a notice is to be given has provided the person giving the notice with an address for service using an electronic communication and has not notified the latter that the address is withdrawn for that purpose.

• (5) The conditions mentioned in paragraphs (1)(a) and (3)(a) are that the notice shall be–

• (a) capable of being accessed by the person to whom it is being sent;

• (b) legible in all material respects; and

• (c) in a form sufficiently permanent to be used for subsequent reference,

and for this purpose “legible in all material respects” means that the information contained in the notice is available to that person to no lesser extent than it would be if given by means of a notice in printed form.

• (6) Subject to paragraph (7), where an electronic communication is used for the purpose of giving a notice, then, unless the contrary is proved, the notice shall be deemed to be given at the time of day recorded by the transmitting apparatus as being the time of satisfactory completion of the transmission.

• (7) Where, after three attempts (duly recorded by the person serving the notice) to effect service by using an electronic communication, service cannot be effected, the notice may be given by serving it upon the person to whom it is addressed by any of the other means referred to in paragraph (3).

• (8) Subject to paragraph (9), for the purposes of this regulation, the proper address of any person to whom notice is to be given shall be–

• (a) where such person has furnished to the person giving the notice an address for service of notices under the Act other than by using an electronic communication or postal service, that address;

• (b) where such person has furnished to the person giving the notice an address for postal service of notices under the Act, that address;

• (c) where such person has furnished to the person giving the notice an address for service of notices under the Act by using an electronic communication, that address; and