Purpose

To seek formal approval to:
a) amend the existing North Yorkshire Permit Scheme documentation
to reflect:

- an increase in permit fees to the maximum level allowed by the
Department for Transport (DfT)

- a reduction in the discounts offered to incentivise collaborate
working and project works from 50% to 30% and

b) recruit resource for the forthcoming Lane Rental Scheme as part
of the same recruitment campaign in alignment with DfT guidance and
local authority objectives.

Decision

Approval to go out to consultation for
amendments to the existing Permit Scheme, as detailed in Appendices
B – E of the report and proceed with the recruitment of
additional staff to strengthen the existing Permit Scheme following
the increase with the potential to also recruit staff for the
proposed Lane Rental Scheme if the Lane Rental application is given
approval by the Department for Transport (DfT).

Reasons for the decision

Subject to approval of this report, the
Authority will look to amend the existing North Yorkshire Permit
Scheme Documentation for consultation with key stakeholders for a
period of four weeks and comments in relation to the changes will
be fed back to officers for review.

Alternative options considered

There is the option that the Authority could
choose to make no changes to the fees or staffing and continue with
its current permit scheme operational documents, however lack of
resource poses significant risk to operation. Continued workload
pressures and keeping the fees at the existing level will result in
the scheme running at a loss.

If successful in our Lane Rental application with the DfT, early
recruitment and training can take place in the three months between
the initial approval and the Statutory Instrument, resulting in go
live taking place shortly after.

Further delay in resourcing the Permit Scheme may result in
declining performance and compliance.

The uplift is in line with the Traffic Management Permit Scheme
(England) Regulations 2007 and as set out in the statutory guidance
and supported by transparent cost recovery justification. There is
also a benefit to Undertakers in that all the schemes in the
Yorkshire area will operate the same way, lending itself to the
issue of parity, which the permit scheme is designed to do.