New snarl-up for traffic management guidance

DfT announces further postponement of guidance information for 2004 act

The Department for Transport (DfT) has once again delayed publication of guidelines relating to the Traffic Management Act (TMA), forcing utilities and local authorities to postpone the introduction of new IT systems.

The government says codes of practice relating to the IT needs of the TMA will not appear until early 2007, some 18 months after they were originally scheduled.

The act, passed in 2004 and now due to become law in late 2007, will require firms wanting to dig up roads for maintenance work to obtain permission from local highway authorities.

The DfT is blaming persistent delays on the complexity of establishing the guidelines.

‘It is important that we take the time to get the regulations and codes of practice right,’ a DfT spokesman told Computing. ‘If we rush, there is a risk the rules and regulations will be unworkable or will not stand the test of time.’

Philip Cameron, street works manager at Gloucestershire County Council, says he is extremely disappointed and frustrated by the delays.

‘This has been dragging on for quite a long time; people are waiting to get their systems in place,’ said Cameron.

‘It affects everything we do because we are trying to work towards a release date and every time that date is delayed the work we have done almost becomes yesterday’s news.’

Peter Richardson, a senior analyst programmer at South West Water, says the legislation is proving unworkable.

‘None of this surprises me; the whole TMA is a total joke. We will have to comply, but none of it has been well thought through, so we have just come to expect, and work around, all the delays this is causing us,’ he said.