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In the town in which I live they have been building houses like they are going out of fashion. Virtually every piece of free land is being built on which I guess is pretty good news, especially if you’re a first time buyer. But the downside is that each new development needs electricity, water, phone and sewage facilities which means roads have to be dug up.

This in turn means that temporary traffic lights are erected and currently at the end of my road is a set of 4 way lights. As you can imagine I can wait what seems like 10 minutes to get out of the end of my road. I then have at least 1 if not more sets of temporary lights to contend with before I reach my destination elsewhere in the town.

My complaint isn’t that we have temporary traffic lights but that no bugger ever seems to be working on the bit of road that the lights are protecting, especially at weekends. As a result the Government is going to take action. They plan to fine local councils and utility companies £5,000 a day for road projects left unattended at weekends that unnecessarily inconvenience motorists.

So work would have to continue at weekends or the roadworks lifted at weekends until work resumed on the following Monday. Also fines will be imposed when lights are left in place after work has been completed. Arguing against this Peter Box, a spokesman for the Local Government Association, said that there are often reasons why roadworks are left unattended, for example when concrete has been laid it takes time to dry.

He can see that if the rules come into force people will be employed at weekends to watch concrete dry rather than receive a fine. As a final word, before you get over excited about driving freely around at the weekends the rules will only apply to A roads and not rural B roads or residential streets – damn. By Graham Hill

Local authorities are out to get the motorist again. A number of authorities are about to change the periods of payment free parking. Westminster City Council have led the way by voting that parking charges be introduced on Sundays between 1pm and 6pm and to extend weekday and Saturday controlled parking to midnight. Councils outside London Read more »

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This isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned this as I’m usually at the cutting edge of news! As you know! The Government is about to introduce lane rentals, a charge to be made on utility companies and local authorities when they disrupt Read more »

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The Government has decided not to ban speed camera detectors as it was felt, by the DfT, that they actually improve driver behaviour. They said ‘Such a move would be inconsistent with (the DfT’s) focus on improving driver behaviour. However, the Government is to ban the use of laser and radar jammers that prevent speed cameras from working. In Read more »

If you are illegally using a disabled badge when you pop into town in order to park closer to the shops, beware, as local authorities take a stronger stand. Research in Leeds and Newcastle found that the illegal use of the blue badges was now out of control. Research found that 60% of disabled badges used in Leeds were illegal and more than half of the badges in use in Newcastle were similarly illegal. Around Read more »

And so the debate goes on regarding speed cameras. I first of all reported that many local authorities were switching them off as they could no longer afford to keep them operating. Then the public stepped in and complained that they were necessary if we are not to see a rise in deaths on the road, supported by safety bodies. So now it seems that some local authorities are willing to rent a Gatso for £5,000 per annum if local people want to keep particular cameras operating. When Oxfordshire Read more »

None of us can say that we like speed cameras but we have to admit that not all are simply there to generate income for the local authority, some have a genuine use in built up areas, near to schools and along stretches of road that had previously been an accident black spot. So whilst many of us are generally pretty happy that many local authorities are preparing to switch off many of the static Gatso cameras it’s a bit Read more »

Moving on to legitimate parking fines, it turns out that local authorities may follow the Westminster council lead and name and shame the worst culprits for not paying their fines. It seems that some of the worst culprits are the very wealthy and Westminster has taken the unprecedented step of announcing the worst offenders on it’s website. It would seem that many of those that refuse to pay the fines are Arab Read more »

After allowing local councils to levy workplace parking charges it seems that few are actually taking up the opportunity. Nottingham was the first to make a move and it was thought that all local authorities would follow suit but after seeing the reaction of local large employers, who announced they would move their offices rather than pay the parking levy, other councils have viewed the opportunity far more cautiously. Read more »

Surprisingly, there has been a public outcry over the switching off of speed cameras around the country after the Government decided to withdraw funding to local authorities necessary to maintain and operate the cameras. In Oxfordshire the council has announced the turning off of the speed cameras after their payment to the speed camera partners was reduced by 70%. This has outraged residents, according to Read more »