More needs to be done to understand and prevent the potential deterioration of Northern Ireland’s road network where road openings have not been reinstated to an acceptable standard. That is among the findings of a report published today (Tuesday 03 December 2024) by Northern Ireland’s Comptroller and Auditor General.
Dorinnia Carville’s report on ‘Road Openings by Utilities’ considers the performance of the Department for Infrastructure in monitoring the quality of road opening reinstatements and minimising the risk that costs are unfairly transferred from Utilities to taxpayers.
To maintain and enhance their assets and services, Utilities must regularly open the road network. It is the responsibility of those Utilities to ensure that, when work is completed, the road or footpath is reinstated to an acceptable standard. Failure to do so increases the risk of accelerated deterioration in the condition of the road. Today’s report notes that this risk is growing with a rise in the total number of road openings by Utilities, which have been increasing year-on-year for the past seven years, reaching a total of 55,000 openings in 2023-24. Despite this increase, the Department is unable to provide an estimate of the total proportion of structural maintenance works linked to poor-quality reinstatements by Utilities.
The report outlines the importance of efficient inspection of road openings. As well as helping assess the overall performance of Utilities, identifying defects within Northern Ireland’s two-to-three-year warranty period means that costs for any remedial works lie with those companies, rather than taxpayers. However, over the last six years, the Department has been unable to meet its target of inspecting 30 per cent of total openings.
The Department’s current testing regime consists of a high number of visual inspections, along with a small volume of core tests involving laboratory testing of samples taken from reinstatements. Today’s report describes a divergence in overall performance measured by the visual inspections versus core sample testing. While the pass rate for visual inspections is above a target of 90 per cent, the more detailed core sample tests are reporting failure rates well above the target of 10 per cent. In addition, the report finds that inspections are based on random selection, rather than on a risk-based model based upon historic results or current testing models in other UK regions.
Commenting on the findings, Dorinnia Carville commented:
“Current estimates from the Department put the total cost of the road network maintenance backlog at around £3 billion. While road openings by Utilities are certainly not the sole cause of deteriorations in the network, they are potentially a contributing factor adding to this significant financial burden.”
“Given the growing number of road openings, and the Department’s failure to meet its existing inspection and testing targets, it is vital that resources which are available are utilised to deliver the most benefit. Therefore, the report recommends that the Department considers introducing risk-based sampling for inspections, and whether increased allocation of resources to more detailed core testing might deliver better value to taxpayers.”
Among the report’s other findings and recommendations are:
- A recommendation that the Department considers whether the current warranty period in Northern Ireland is adequate for protecting taxpayers from costs relating to defective reinstatements by Utilities. This follows a review in Scotland which saw the warranty period there increase to six years (compared with two-to-three years in Northern Ireland).
- A recommendation for the Department to consider re-assessing inspections fees (charged to Utilities) and the use of Fixed Penalty Notices or other performance improvement systems. The report notes that the Department has not formally reviewed or revised inspection fees since 2011 and has decided not to introduce Fixed Penalty Notices to further drive improvements in performance.