Apparently, the contractor does. And – strangely – on some occasions (where the Council itself is the ‘Works Promoter’) the Council (Wiltshire) fines and pays itself. Really?
Marlborough.news submitted a Freedom of Information request recently asking for details of all instances where fines have been levied on contractors for breaching the terms of their working – i.e. when the lights are there but no-one working, taking too long, or even no works being done at all. We asked for this information for the Marlborough area – Beckhampton – Froxfield (E – W) and Ogbourne St George – Burbage / Oare (N – S). And between January ’22 and February of this year.
We’ve been told that the contractors (or ‘Works Promoters’) do get fined when such incidents occur, so we further asked ‘by how much?’, and who were the beneficiaries of such fines?
As noted above, it would appear from the return that on two occasions Wiltshire Council fined itself. The size of fines is in the ‘£8,000 – £10,000’ range, so not insignificant.
The beneficiaries of such fines are ‘The Local Authorities’. So in this case either Wiltshire Council or East Berks Council. For Marlborough, Wiltshire Council is the Highway Authority.
The recent incident in London Road, by St Peter’s which caused near-gridlock for several days was one such ‘fine-able’ example. It was a ‘Section 74’ and ‘Regulation 20’ breach, so maybe two fines? Thames Water were the ‘Works Promoter’ so undoubtedly what Wiltshire Council took in fines went on to our water bills – indirectly, of course. But the resulting added income to Wiltshire Council was unlikely to deliver a reduced Council Tax bill, even though it was us, the residents of Marlborough who were at the sharp end of the inconvenience, so for some organisation’s lackadaisical decisions and actions – we pay – twice……..
Attached is the schedule (‘.pdf’) of all such fines. Click here to either view or download. So contractors – or their ‘Works Promoters’ do get fined, and substantial amounts. But as with so many other cases (the Water Companies, for example, with sewage discharges etc.) they get fined, that costs them less than the investment they would have to make to stop it happening again, so they pay. Again, and again, and again. And we are the ones who really pay.
So whilst the fines do get levied and paid, it’s us who really pays……. In more ways than one.