Scottish road works and Northern Ireland street works: consents, notices and penalties

If you dig up a public road, build a new road or promote a railway or tramway in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you work under each nation's own law, not the England rules that the common names "NRSWA", "section 278" and "TMA permit" come from. Scotland talks about road works, roads authorities and the Scottish Road Works Commissioner. Northern Ireland talks about street works and DfI Roads. The details, the register you must use and the penalties all differ.

This guide covers Scotland and Northern Ireland. For England, see the Highway works and street works permits guide and the Set up traffic management for road works guide, which cover the England rules and permit schemes.

Which rules apply to you

• You are a utility or a contractor working for one, placing or maintaining pipes, cables or ducts in a road: in Scotland, Part IV of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 and the Scottish Road Works Register; in Northern Ireland, the Street Works (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 and the NISRANS register. You carry the notice, qualification, safety and reinstatement duties.
• You are a contractor or owner digging in a public road without a statutory right to do so: in Scotland you need roads authority consent under section 56 of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 or a permission under section 109 of the 1991 Act. In Northern Ireland you need a DfI Roads street works licence, or a consent under Article 78 of the Roads (Northern Ireland) Order 1993 for an excavation that is not apparatus work.
• You are a developer building a new road: in Scotland you need construction consent from the council before you build and can then ask to have the road adopted. The Northern Ireland route for new streets is the Private Streets (Northern Ireland) Order 1980, which this guide does not cover.
• You need traffic stopped or diverted for works: in Northern Ireland only DfI Roads can make the restriction, under Article 7 of the Road Traffic Regulation (Northern Ireland) Order 1997. In Scotland the traffic authority acts under section 14 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, which extends to Scotland and is not covered in detail here.
• You are promoting a railway, tramway or other guided transport scheme in Scotland: you need an order from the Scottish Ministers under the Transport and Works (Scotland) Act 2007.

Scotland

Building a new road and getting it adopted

Consent or permission to dig in a public road

Utility road works: the Scottish Road Works Commissioner and Register

Railways and tramways: Transport and Works (Scotland) Act 2007 orders

Northern Ireland

Street works licence from DfI Roads

Undertaker duties, notices and inspections

Temporary traffic restrictions and warning signs

The two regimes side by side

Steps to get compliant

1. Work out your role. Are you an undertaker with a statutory right, a licensee, a contractor acting for one, a developer, or a promoter? The role decides which consents, notices and offences apply to you.
2. Get authority before you dig. In Scotland apply for roads authority consent, or a section 109 permission, or rely on your statutory right. In Northern Ireland apply to DfI Roads for a street works licence or an Article 78 consent. Opening a road without authority is an offence in both nations. Placing apparatus or opening a road without a statutory right, permission or licence carries a fine up to level 5 (£5,000). Digging in a road without consent carries a fine up to level 3 (£1,000).
3. Register and notify. Put your notices and records in the Scottish Road Works Register or NISRANS, and give the starting-date notice at least 7 working days ahead unless the prescribed period is shorter.
4. In Scotland, have your reinstatement quality plan approved. The Commissioner must have approved a plan, specific or general, and it must be entered in the register before you break the road.
5. Put qualified people on site. Check the supervisor and trained operative certificates are registered, valid and relevant to the work. Keep copies where you can show them.
6. Make the site safe and sign it. Guard and light every opening. Ask the right authority for any temporary closure: in Northern Ireland, DfI Roads under Article 7.
7. Reinstate and notify. Reinstate to the specification, tell the Commissioner or DfI Roads the reinstatement is interim or permanent, finish permanent reinstatement within six months, and keep the apparatus records up to date.
8. If you are a promoter, plan for the order. Send draft Transport and Works (Scotland) Act 2007 documents to the Scottish Ministers at least 42 days before applying, and allow for the objection period and the 42-day challenge window.

If the Commissioner or DfI Roads contacts you

In Scotland the Commissioner can inspect and ask for information, and a compliance notice gives you at least 28 days to put a breach right. You have 21 days to appeal it to the sheriff. In Northern Ireland DfI Roads can inspect, require remedial works within at least 7 working days and offer a fixed penalty. In both nations keep your notices, plans, qualifications and reinstatement records ready to produce, because the defences in the statutes (such as not knowing where someone else's apparatus was, or taking all reasonable care over apparatus records) depend on showing what you did.