Third of road closures broke rules, survey found

Almost a third of road closures in Kent were found to have broken the rules of closure agreements, a new survey has found.

It follows an audit by inspectors of 59 road closures disclosed at a Kent County Council (KCC) briefing.

Of the closures, 18 were found to either be unsafe, to have incorrect signage or to be closed but with no work taking place.

KCC described the rule-breaking as "wholly unacceptable".

The number of road closure permits issued by KCC has rocketed in recent years, from 4,000 in 2019 to 12,000 last year, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

The audit was carried out by a newly-formed inspectorate using existing KCC resources after concerns were raised about closure term breaches by the council's environment and transport committee.

In response to the results, the chairman of KCC's transport committee, Sean Holden, said: "We had to do something. It’s bad enough when every road seems to have works being done on them, but infuriating for people when it’s obvious there is nothing going on.

“People are fed up to the back teeth with companies and their sub-contractors clearly breaking the rules and getting away with it.”

Mr Holden added that he wanted to "crack down" on emergency closures, where roads are closed but work often does not begin for a few days, and urged the government to " massively increase fines" for rule-breaking sub-contractors.

The LDRS said much of the increase in road closure permits being issued by the council was due to house-building, fixing potholes, council maintenance work and utility firms laying infrastructure.

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