New Roads and Street Works Act 1991: Code of Practice for the Co-ordination of Works in Roads
Chapter 3 The Scottish Road Works Register
3.1 Background
3.1.1 The Scottish Road Works Commissioner (the Commissioner) is required to keep a register called the Scottish Road Works Register (SRWR).
The Commissioner uses the information held within the SRWR for reporting and measuring both undertakers' and road works authorities' performance.
3.1.2 Section 112B of NRSWA allows for regulations to be made, to prescribe certain information that is to be contained within the SRWR. This Chapter of the Code of Practice provides further details on:
- the information that is to be held;
- how that information should be held; and
- who is responsible for providing that information.
The Commissioner is required to make arrangements so that the SRWR is made available to all those wishing to view it, including members of the public.
3.2 General Arrangements for the Keeping of the SRWR
3.2.1 Information relating to all roads, as defined within NRSWA, will be held on the SRWR. Particular arrangements for holding the information will depend upon the status of the road. Every road will fall into one of the following scenarios:
(i) Roads where the local roads authority is responsible for the maintenance. This covers the vast majority of roads where road works are being undertaken.
(ii) Roads where the local roads authority is not responsible for the maintenance. This includes the motorway and trunk road network in Scotland managed by Transport Scotland. It also includes any roads and bridges managed by statutory authorities e.g. Rail Authority. These Road Authorities maintain their own information within the additional tables of the SRWR, pertaining to those roads and bridges. Information on the roads, such as the Unique Street Reference Number (USRN) and road name will also be contained within the SRWR and will be referenced in such a way as to indicate who the responsible road works authority is and provide the necessary contact information.
(iii) Private Roads. Information relating to private roads, which is known, will be contained in the SRWR and will be referenced in such a way as to indicate the status of the road. There is no requirement to register the road manager for these roads.
3.3 Form of SRWR
3.3.1 The SRWR in Scotland is an online system.
3.3.2 All records shall be referenced to the National Street Gazetteer (NSG) using the USRN, and allow retrieval by USRN, road name, road description or road number.
3.4 Contents of SRWR
3.4.1 The SRWR shall contain the following information:
(i) all works or occupation of any road as defined;
(ii) the National Street Gazetteer (NSG); and
(iii) details of all roads subject to special conditions;
(iv) details of road reinstatement category for the purposes of undertakers' reinstatement obligations.
3.4.2 The SRWR should also contain particulars of unmarked apparatus notified to the road works authority under section 139(2) of NRSWA.
Giving Notice
3.4.3 When giving notice of works in roads the information required to be entered is detailed within the SRWR.
Where works are to be carried out on private roads, paper or electronic copies (in addition to the SRWR) of that notice shall be sent to the road manager by the works promoter. In many cases the road manager will be the householder adjacent to the road.
3.5 National Street Gazetteer and Associated Data
3.5.1 All information contained in the SRWR shall be referenced to the NSG. The SRWR will contain full details of the relevant NSG entries enabling information to be identified by any appropriate road reference such as a road name, road description or road number.
3.5.2 To allow correct referencing of notice information to roads, the information within the NSG, as held within the SRWR, must be correct and up to date. This is achieved by a process of quarterly updates undertaken by road works authorities.
3.5.3 The NSG contains details of road designations within the Associated Street Data (ASD). The procedures for making and withdrawing designations are contained within Chapter 4 of this Code of Practice.
Designations must be recorded within the ASD and any new, withdrawn or amended designations shall be recorded on the SRWR.
3.6 Prospectively Maintainable Roads
3.6.1 Section 146 of NRSWA provides that, where road works authorities are satisfied that a road in their area is likely to become a public road, they may make a declaration to that effect. Such a road must also be included in the local street gazetteer, which amongst other things (see paragraph 3.2), will be expected to identify the following:
a. public roads;
b. prospective public roads; and
c. private roads of which the roads authority has knowledge, together with details of the road manager where that is known.
3.6.2 Private roads and prospective public roads are to be identified as such in the Associated Street Data sets of the SRWR.