Each week a “road report” is issued to Councillors detailing all current and imminent road works and closures in our capital. This week’s report stretches to a modest 17 pages and documents almost 200 sets of works.

The good news is that a significant part of this is the Council delivering on Labour’s commitment to significantly increases funding for road and footpath maintenance following years of cuts. The bulk of the work, however, is being undertaken by utility contractors – SGN, Scottish Water, SPEN, Cityfibre, BT etc. The government gives the companies the “right” to install and maintain their infrastructure, and leaves the Council only very limited powers to co-ordinate the works. The result of this asymmetrical relationship is more congestion in an already congested city.

Recent utility works at Fairmilehead Crossroads came with extensive delays to public transport, and traffic queuing all the way to the bypass. Whilst the works lasted for only two weeks, residents in my Ward were furious that most of the time no work was taking place. Despite the massive delays, there was no apparent sense of urgency from the utility company.

Due to issues like this Edinburgh Councillor’s have now agreed, however, that we need the power to force utility companies to work smarter and faster.

In England, a lane rental scheme allows local authorities to charge utility companies for the time that roadworks occupy the road – £2500 per day. Edinburgh Councillor’s want the Scottish Government to give our capital the same power, and set a rate that forces utility companies to work faster.

Will it happen? This was the answer Ralph Roberts, CEO of McGills Buses, gave to me: “It is unlikely unfortunately but I wish you luck. Bus companies will be right behind you. Utilities work the way they do to keep their costs low, but damage local economies as a result. Local economic impact should take precedence.“