Leeds City Council has sent proposals to the Department for Transport to charge companies for carrying out works on the city’s busiest roads during the busiest times.
The council is looking to introduce a ‘Leeds Lane Rental Scheme’ on around 10 per cent of its road network, to help reduce the impact of road works by charging as much as £2,500 per day, if they are undertaken during the busiest times.
The scheme is designed to encourage companies such as utilities or other works promoters including developers and our own council teams, to schedule works outside of the busiest times, to collaborate or adopt more efficient ways of working to reduce travel times and delays.
The scheme would also potentially raise revenue which will be reinvested into upgrading and maintaining our roads.
The introduction of the Leeds Lane Rental Scheme would bring numerous benefits:
- Better coordination and more efficient roadworks by reducing time to complete works
- Change in the industry to increase collaboration between businesses and work promoters
- Encourage investment in assets and reduce the need to emergency repairs
- Reduce congestion, improve journey times and reliability
- Generate revenue to spend on road maintenance and highway improvement projects
Subject to approval, it is expected the new scheme will be up and running by spring 2026, with Wakefield and Kirklees Council also planning to introduce schemes concurrently.
The council oversees around 40,000 roadwork applications a year, which covers approximately 2,940km of roads, much of which relates to highway improvements and the provision of essential services to residents. The council wants to ensure this investment is conducted in the least disruptive way for the travelling public.
The new scheme will complement the Connecting Leeds Transport Strategy by improving network management, reducing delays on the busiest roads at the busiest times, minimising the need for diversions and extra miles travelled at the busiest times. This will also positively impact on climate change and reducing carbon, whilst helping key bus routes and improving the reliability of public transport.
Councillor Jonathan Pryor, Leeds City Council’s deputy leader and executive member for economy, transport, and sustainable development, said:
The Leeds Lane Rental Scheme (LLRS) will focus on the most critical parts of our highway network, with charges applying at the busiest times. We know for anyone travelling, roadworks is a source of frustration. While we try to coordinate these works as best we can, these added powers mean we can incentivise works to complete quickly and efficiently, to cause less disruption on our network.
This scheme encourages those working on the roads to better plan their works to take place during less busy times, to look for ways to collaborate, and complete works more quickly. LLRS will give us more power, and options in levying charges to encourage better behaviour from those working on our roads, so that our residents have less disruption as they move around.
The extra revenue the scheme provides will be reinvested back into road maintenance and highway improvement.
