SRWC Road Works Monitoring Report 2024-25

The number of road works registered in 2024/25 once again increased on the previous year although the rise was significantly lower than in each of the past two years. This may indicate that the level of road work activity is peaking. There were a total of 166,295 road works registered in Scotland in the year to 31 March 2025, an increase of 3,148 (1.9%) compared to the year to 31 March 2024 (163,147).

Utility company road works totalled 122,954 (2023/24 119,383) which represents 73.9% (2023/24 73.2%) of all road works registered. Roads authority road works totalled 43,341 (2023/24 43,764) which represents 26.1% (2023/24 26.8%) of all road works registered.

Improvement Plans

Commissioner Improvement Plans were first introduced in 2017/18. Due to the retirement of the Performance Manager in December 2024, the improvement plan process was suspended for 2024/25.

Performance Rating

A revised performance rating for each individual organisation was introduced in 2021/22 and continues in the reporting year 2024/25. The following is a general description of performance:

Well-managed – good performance across all indicators with minor non-compliance associated with up to one metric,

Satisfactory – between 1 and 3 non-compliant metrics with either near or slightly out with the respective targets, and

Un-satisfactory – more than 3 non-compliant metrics and/or 1 metric delivering consistently poor performance across 2 quarters or more.

The number of organisations delivering either a well-managed or satisfactory performance increased from 52 in 2023/24 to 53 in 2024/25. This represents 63% of the 84 organisations undertaking works.

There is a significant difference between the performance ratings of roads authorities and undertakers. The vast majority of roads authorities (79%) were rated as well-managed or satisfactory whereas only 53% of undertakers achieved these ratings. Some undertakers carry out very small numbers of notifiable works and this has a tendency to skew the results. However, there is no doubt that undertakers need to improve their overall performance in a number of areas.

The performance rating of roads authorities and utility companies is shown in Table D.1.

The following summarises and highlights the performance against key indicators:

Potential Noticing Failures

It is expected that all roads authorities and utility companies achieve a potential noticing failure rate of 4% or less, as noticing of road works is largely an administrative function.

The noticing failure percentage for roads authorities (including all Transport Scotland (TS) operators) fell to an average figure of 4.3% (5.3% in 2023/24).

Similarly the rate of utility company noticing failures fell to 5.0% (6.9% in 2023/24).

These falls are welcome and it is heartening that the utility sector is now close to achieving the 4% target that has been in place for a number of years.

Full details of noticing failure performance for roads authorities and utility companies are contained in Figure D.2.

Early and Late Starts

Roads authorities increased their use of early starts with a year average of 7.2% (5.5% in 2023/24). The Utility companies average increased slightly to 7.8% from a figure of 7.6% in 2023/24. It is worth noting that these figures are well below the target of 15%.

For full details of early starts see Figure D.7.

The use of late starts remains low at below 1% for both roads authorities and utilities.

For full details of late starts see Figure D.8

Unplanned Works

Unplanned works (i.e. those deemed to be either an emergency or urgent) can present a significant challenge for co-ordination and can be very disruptive for road users. The use of these works types needs to be minimised as far as possible.

Unplanned works accounted for 18.1% of all works in 2024/25 (17.5% in 2023/24) and at 30,235 works, this was an increase of 6.0% on 2023/24. However, while there has been a recent small trend upwards, the number of unplanned works was less in 2024/25 (30,253 works) than it was in 2018/19 (31,051 works) and the proportion of all works that are unplanned has reduced from around 23.8% in 2018/19 to 18.1% in 2024/25.

Nearly half of unplanned works in 2024/25 (48.1%) were Scottish Water works (49.2% in 2023/24), this despite Scottish Water accounting for just 15.9% of all works registered in 2024/25. Of particular concern was the fact that over 56% of Scottish Water works in both Quarter 3 and Quarter 4 were unplanned.

The water, gas and electricity sectors account for 76.1% of all unplanned works.

Roads Authorities also increased their use of unplanned works in 2024/25 – up to nearly 4.0% of works started. Like 2023/24, there was a series of significant named storm events which contributed to this.

For full details of unplanned works for roads authorities and utility companies see Figure D.6.

Works Extensions

The use of works extensions remained stable at 6.3% for roads authorities and 9.3% for utilities. These are both below the 10% target level.

For full details of works extensions for roads authorities and utility companies see Figure D.9.

Works that Overran

Works that overran remained stable around the 1% level for both roads authorities and utilities.

For full details of overrunning works for roads authorities and utility companies see Figure D.5.

Works awaiting closure and/or registration of final site reinstatement details

Roads authorities and utilities both delivered good performance against this metric with very low numbers outstanding at the end of the year.

For full details of works awaiting closure for Roads authorities and utility companies see Figure D.10.

The number of utility notices awaiting final site registration details reduced slightly to 316 (compared to 322 in 2023/24).

For full details of Utility works awaiting registration of final site details see Figure D.11.

Utility company interim reinstatements

The use of interim reinstatements fell by 17.5% in 2025/25 to 3,850 (4,669 in 2023/24).

There was a further 14.7% decrease in the number of reinstatements failing to be made permanent within 6 months at the end of the reporting period, with reported figure of 505 (592 in 2023/24, 655 in 2022/23). This trend is very much welcomed.

For full details of Utility company interim reinstatements both compliant and failing the 6 month timescale see Figure D.14.

Sample Inspections Carried Out By Roads Authorities

Roads authorities managed to complete 97.8% of planned sample inspections across the course of the year. This was an improvement on 2023/24 where they achieved 93.8%. These inspections provide the Commissioner with reliable information on how effectively the utility companies are delivering their works and the quality of their reinstatements.

For full details of sample inspections undertaken by roads authorities see Figure D.17.

Sample Inspection Pass Rate

The overall pass rate for sample inspections increased to 94.7% (94% in 2023/24, 92.6% in 2022/23). However, a significant number of individual organisations still failed to achieve the required 90% pass rate within the three sample inspection categories.

The overall pass rate for Category A inspections, which are undertaken whilst the works are in progress, decreased slightly to 92.9%, (93.3% in 2023/24, 90.8% in 2022/23). These inspections focus on the safety aspects of ongoing works.

The pass rate for Category B inspections, undertaken at completion of works, rose to 95.7% (94.3% in 2023/24, 93.2% in 2022/23).

Similarly the pass rate for Category C inspections, which are undertaken at the end of the guarantee period, also rose to a figure of 95.2% (94.3% in 2023/24, 93.6% in 2022/23). This gives confidence that the quality of the reinstatements continues to improve.

For full details of category A sample inspections pass rates see Figure D.18.

For full details of category B sample inspections pass rates see Figure D.19.

For full details of category C sample inspections pass rates see Figure D.20.

Substandard traffic management from inspection results

There was a further small reduction in the number of sub-standard traffic management issues identified through inspections. The number reduced to 1,058 in 2024/25 (1,074 in 2023/24, 1,361 failures in 2022/23). This downward trend is very welcome, particularly when considered against the increased number of works.

For full details of sub-standard traffic management from inspection results see Figure D.21.

Works registered with missing contact details

The number of works registered without proper contact details remains very small at 89 for roads authorities and 468 for utilities. Whilst this is an increase on the previous year, it remains at an almost negligible level compared to the number of works registered.

For full details of roads authorities and utility company works registered with missing contact details see Figure D.16.

Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) issued

Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) were issued by 20 of the 33 roads authorities in 2024/25, an increase of one compared to the previous reporting year. Whilst it seems that most authorities are using this important power, there remains a significant number of authorities who still do not issue any FPNs.

The number of FPNs issued to utility companies was 2,539 out of a potential 6,323 (40.1%), a slightly lower percentage than in 2023/24. Both the actual and potential FPN figures reduced compared to 2023/24.

For full details of actual and potential fixed penalty notices issued to utility companies see Figure D.3.

Roads authorities collected an estimated £203,120 from the issue of FPNs, which is a reduction of around 19.9% compared to the previous year.

For full details of fixed penalty notices issued by roads authorities see Figure D.4.

Estimated amounts collected through the issue of FPNs over the last 5 years are:

Misuse of traffic management type “not yet known”

Again, the number of works registered with the traffic management not yet known is at a very low level (18 for roads authorities, 64 for utilities).

For full details of roads authorities and utility company works registered with traffic management “not yet known” details see Figure D.15.

Undue delay (S125) notices issued

There was a further reduction in the number of Undue Delay notices issued by roads authorities to undertakers in 2024/25 – down to 87 from 286 in 2023/24. Previous years had seen sharp rises in two authorities but discussions with both in 2024/25 seem to have resulted in a more measured approach.

However, there are 8 road works authorities that have not issued any Undue Delay (S125) notices in the latest 5-year period. The Commissioner has reminded authorities that this power is available to them and the subject was covered in the webinar held in late 2024.

For full details of undue delay (S125) notices issued by roads authorities see Figure D.13.

Roads authority works registered per 100km

This indicator measures the number of road works registered on the SRWR by council roads authorities, Transport Scotland trunk road operating companies and Transport Scotland trunk road DBFO companies across Scotland.

Road works are influenced by many factors such as geographic location, political priorities, population, weather, available resources (numbers of operatives), structural and routine budgets, road network lengths, etc. For example, islands and rural authorities register fewer road works than urban authorities. Consequently, for reporting purposes, authorities are grouped with peer organisations and any view on their performance is relative.

There is a continuing wide range of variation between and within the SCOTS family groups but the averages within the groups remain at the lower end of the distribution. This appears to be because some groups have authorities who notify significantly higher numbers of works than the rest of the family group members as they see this as an aid to co-ordination.

The overall measures for each family group remained fairly stable although it is worth noting that Transport Scotland again increase its noticing levels and the City and Semi-urban groups showed small reductions compared to 2023/24.

For full details of the range of works per 100km for authorities in each SCOTS group see Figure D.12.