IT’S the question most road users have asked: “Why are they digging this up again?”

Our week of reports on congestion today tackles the idea that the same areas are repeatedly blighted by roadworks.

Bournemouth council leader Cllr John Beesley said: “Everybody gets frustrated by congestion and very little of it is as a result of council work.

“Most of it’s down to statutory services doing their work and that has to be done. We don’t have any power over that.”

Jamie Griffiths, traffic manager at Bournemouth Borough Council, said there were 3,600 notices for roadworks in the town between April 2017 and March 2018 – and only 254 were for the council’s own projects.

The rest were for utility companies, known as “statutory undertakers”, who have to be allowed to do their work.

Mr Griffiths insisted there is “a lot of discussion” with utility companies, and that the council does put pressure on them to minimise disruption. When gas company SGN was doing disruptive work at Bath Road earlier this year, the council arranged for the work to pause ahead of a bank holiday weekend.

Highways officers take issue with the common belief that a lot of roadworks are done towards the end of the financial year to use up departmental budgets.

That perception might be more to do with the fact that the most disruptive work is timed to avoid the main tourist season, they insist. And with more events being scheduled for after the peak summer season, that leaves fewer dates when work can be done without causing hold-ups.

One idea proposed for reducing disruption is a “lane rental” scheme, where utility companies are charged for the time a road is shut.

Andrew Wickham, managing director of Morebus, is pushing the idea locally, and said it is right that the utilities share the cost that this disruption imposes on other businesses.

David Squire, managing director of Yellow Buses, concurs. “I agree with Andrew. If we had BT or SGN or the water companies in the picture, it’s more likely they’re going to do it within whatever timescale has been set,” he said.

But Cllr Mike Greene, Bournemouth’s cabinet member for transport, is sceptical about the idea, which has been tried in other areas including Camden.

“In the end, the longer they’re there for, the more it costs them anyway. There are incentives to complete the work quickly,” he said.

“If it was demonstrated to me that lane rental would make a significant difference than I would support it but at the moment there hasn’t been any evidence that it does.”

Wessex Water, which carries out 60,000 works on the road each year regionally, says it does communicate with councils and other utilities, coordinating work where possible.

A spokesman said: “New technology, such as using robots to repair pipes underground, is allowing us to complete water and sewerage repairs quicker than ever before without needing to dig long trenches in the road.

“We appreciate how frustrating roadworks can be, but every water main renewed means local people have a more reliable supply for years to come.”

SGN spokesman Dan Brown said: "To ensure residents receive a continued safe and reliable gas supply for many years to come, we have embarked on a 30-year programme to upgrade our network.

"In addition, we also provide the National Gas Emergency Service in the area. When we are called to a gas emergency, we will always make the situation safe, day or night. Sometimes this may involve a road closure or temporary traffic lights to keep the public and our engineers safe, which may cause some disruption. We appreciate that there’s no ideal time for our planned or emergency work to be carried out. "However, we plan our work with local authorities and will always strive to reduce the impact of our essential work on the local community."