SHROPSHIRE Council has welcomed a fine for Wales & West Water after ‘inadequate’ traffic calming measures in Whittington put the public at risk.

The water company was ordered to pay more than £18,000 for traffic management offences in Whittington in June 2023 and August 2023 at Telford Magistrates Court on Monday, in a prosecution brought by Shropshire Council.

The company pleaded guilty to six breaches and failures to maintain and operate a traffic management system in accordance with the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 and the Traffic Management Permit Scheme (England) Regulations 2007.

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It was fined a total of £12,068, plus costs of £4,000 and a victim surcharge of £2,000 – a total of £18,068.

The company had applied for a major works permit in Station Road between June 12, 2023 and July 21, 2023, and further works on or about August 24, 2023.

After starting the works – and following inspections by Shropshire Council highways inspectors – there were concerns that the works were carried out in a way that posed a significant safety risk to the public.

Despite being informed of the inadequacies, and an agreement being reached in a site meeting on how to continue the works in a safer manner, the operatives repeatedly failed to make the necessary provisions to make the site safe.

Chris Schofield, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member for planning and regulatory services, said: “Shropshire Council is responsible for regulating works taking place on our network of roads.

“Any avoidable breaches that disrupt the flow of traffic and safety of the network are taken extremely seriously, as this prosecution shows.

“The location of the works directly outside a primary school, and on a busy A road, exacerbated an already non-compliant site to the point where there were serious concerns that an accident could have occurred.

“It is clear that Wales & West should have carried out more vigilant prior planning and risk assessment, which would have meant that the issues would have been identified beforehand and been better catered for.

“Furthermore, the repeated failure to adhere to permit conditions, along with working without a permit on an adjacent street, further highlights the council’s concerns regarding the company’s ability to plan and carry out their works appropriately.”

The site was inspected on June 16 with a number of issues found such as a switched-off pedestrian crossing without council authorisation despite a high volume of traffic.

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There was also an excavation in Castle Street that did not have a permit in place, and repeat site visits were made on June 19-22 to follow up on the issues raised but breaches remained.

In August 2023 – during work to reset some kerbs – an inspector found that that there were no operatives on site and the temporary traffic lights were not being manually controlled as specified under a permit condition.

In addition, the site information board present on site was inadequate, not in the correct format, was facing live traffic and was illegible.