Roadworks, closures & diversions

The cost for applying for the road closure notice is currently £1,200, which must be paid by the person requesting the notice. It is their responsibility to organise and pay for required traffic management. As there is a legal process to be undertaken, at least six weeks’ notice of closure is required.
Emergency closures are at a cost of £500

A request for a temporary traffic regulation order should be submitted to the Northumberland County Council streetworks team using the documentation below.

• temporary traffic regulation orders application form guidelines

• temporary traffic regulation orders application form

You can email or fax the application using the details below:

• roadclosures@northumberland.gov.uk

• Fax: 01670 625560

Events

For more information on the Safety Advisory, organising events and to download the Event Notification Form click here 
 

Completed Event Notification Forms are to be sent to urban@northumberland.gov.uk

Road Closures for Events

If you require a road closure to enable your event to take place, a legal order is required to close the road. The following table provides information on the type of order applied and any associated charge;

If you are unsure of which order is required for your event please contact us on 01670 620500 or email us at roadclosures@northumberland.gov.uk

If you require a road closure, as well as completing an Event Notification Form, you will need to complete a Road Closure Application;

• Application can be downloaded here
• Guidelines for the application can be found here

Please note that a minimum of 6 weeks notice is required for all closure applications.
Also please note that it is the responsibility of the event organiser to contact either their chosen traffic management company or the respective Northumberland County Council traffic management ofiicer in order to arrange traffic management for a road closure.

Northumberland County Councils Traffic Management Officers are as follows;
North/South East - Kevin Scott kevin.scott@northumberland.gov.uk
West/Central - Andy Murgatroyd andy.murgatroyd@northumberland.gov.uk

• feel safe, valued, and part of their community 
• live in distinctive vibrant places, which they value and in which they feel proud 
• easily get to work, to learning, and to access the various facilities and services they want to use

• reduce occupation of the highway for both street and highway works in order to minimise disruption to the travelling public
• improve compliance with the relevant codes of practice and conditions
• ensure accurate information is available to the public through improved quality of information received from all works promoters
• ensure all works promoters are treated fairly and with parity
• encourage collaborative working between all works promoters

In preparation for the implementation of the Northumberland County Council Street Works Permit Scheme, the Council undertook a thorough review of the county's traffic sensitivity as this had not been updated since 1999. Clearly the road network had changed over this 20 year period, greater urbanisation of the county has resulted in traffic flows increasing significantly and it was therefore important that the Council has an accurate picture of the road network asset. 

In order for the appropriate permit charges to be levied, it was vital to adequately scutinise the data as traffic sensitivity impacts on charging in all permit schemes. A public consultation ran for four weeks from 18/12/2019 to 15/01/2020 to allow for any feedback to be received.

Under section 64 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 (NRSWA), a street authority may designate certain streets, or parts of streets, as traffic sensitive. It is a designation that allows highly trafficked highways to be identified as requiring works promoters to give greater advanced warning of proposed works activities.  Designations may apply to certain times of day, days of the week or days of the year and depending on the circumstances may apply to carriageway only, footway or pedestrian area only or to any part or length of a street. The traffic sensitivity details are held in the National Street Gazetteer (NSG) and this contains all the information that utilities need to know about roads that are identified for works. 

Traffic sensitivity reviews can be done in two distinct ways. The first is based on a set of predefined criteria, such as gritting routes and traffic flow levels; whilst the other option uses internal expertise to scrutinise the network to agree categorisations based on knowledge of the individual streets. Given the importance of the traffic sensitivity as the charging element of the permit scheme, Northumberland County Council elected to use the latter. This will ensure accurate charging whilst also helping to achieve the permit scheme’s ultimate goal of facilitating and promoting best practice on the roads to the benefit of both works promoters and the travelling public.    

The consultation documents were issued to an array of stakeholders, including internal staff, utility companies and emergency services that operate in the county as well as being made available to the general public via the Council's website. No feedback was received during the consultation period demonstating a tacit agreement that the extensively detailed work done on the traffic sensitivity has created an accurate picture of the Council's road network asset.  

The below attachments detail the Council's agreed traffic sensitive streets:

• a table listing all of the traffic sensitive streets and;

• a link to an interactive map displaying those streets

• If you have any problems or enquiries regarding streetworks or delays on the roads, then telephone us on 0345 6006400.