Blockages, Access and Spoil

Only as a managed exception. The RBKC pro-forma states the council will only agree to road closures in exceptional circumstances, and that in most cases good traffic management should ensure the frequency and duration of blockages is managed so vehicular traffic can pass the site.

The pro-forma lists what the management measures must ensure: pedestrian passage maintained at all times; vehicular access to adjacent properties maintained at all times; emergency access maintained at all times; domestic and commercial waste collections not disrupted; motorists adequately forewarned with appropriate signage on the approaches conforming to Chapter 8 of the current TSRGD; trees not damaged; and vehicles not driving on the footway other than at dedicated access points.

Under the RBKC pro-forma, only between 9.30am and 3pm. That is a narrower window than the general delivery hours of 9.30am to 4.30pm, which reflects that a blockage is more disruptive than a delivery.

Yes. The pro-forma states the driver must stay with the vehicle at all times and be ready to move on request if vehicular access to a neighbouring property is required and no alternative is available, or in the event of an emergency. An unattended vehicle blocking a street is the situation the requirement exists to prevent.

Yes. The pro-forma requires banksmen to be positioned on all approaches to the site to forewarn highway users and advise of alternative routes.

Yes, explicitly. The pro-forma requires you to establish the days and times of refuse collections and ensure there is no conflict. A blockage on collection day affects every household on the street at once, which is why it is called out separately.

Chapter 8 of the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions is the part dealing with temporary traffic management signing and layouts for road works. The pro-forma requires signage warning motorists of a blockage to conform to it, and also requires footway closure signage to conform to Chapter 8 and comply with NRSWA regulations.

Where vehicular access is provided, the pro-forma states vehicles should be able to turn within the site and exit in a forward direction. The alternative it allows is that vehicles may reverse in and drive out in forward gear. What it does not contemplate is reversing out onto the highway.

Almost always, and on constrained sites it is non-negotiable. Councils that publish a pro-forma tend to be emphatic about it: RBKC's states that trained banksmen MUST be provided at all times when vehicles are manoeuvring into and out of the site, and sets a minimum of a Site Access Traffic Marshal qualification. Your authority may set a different minimum, so check the local requirement rather than assuming that one.

Under the RBKC pro-forma, as a minimum a Site Access Traffic Marshal qualification. The same minimum is stated again for the banksman required on the footway during the transfer of materials.

Under the RBKC pro-forma, yes for the site access manoeuvre: it states that the swept path of the chosen manoeuvre must be shown. That is the council's own pro-forma requiring swept path evidence, not a consultant's preference. A CTMP that describes the manoeuvre in words has not answered the question.

The pro-forma asks for full details of the method, giving wait and load, conveyor, grab and skip swap as examples, and states the council will only agree to a methodology that maintains 3m of clear roadway width. Where that is impossible, temporary blockages are only permitted subject to the stringent controls in question 13.

The pro-forma is discouraging: it states that grabbing spoil from the roadway or front gardens using a grab lorry blocks traffic and will not be acceptable in most locations. If you propose it you need to explain why your location is the exception.

Because of overnight parking pressure. The RBKC pro-forma states the council will not agree to skips on streets that experience saturated parking conditions overnight, which it defines as 90 percent occupancy on residents' parking bays, where alternative methods of spoil removal could reasonably be carried out. It notes recorded parking occupancy levels are available from the council's transport team.

Spoil is loaded directly into a vehicle that waits rather than into a skip left on the street. The pro-forma notes that wait and load means the kerbside is available for parking at times when parking suspensions do not apply, which is precisely why it is preferred on streets with high residential parking demand.

Yes. The pro-forma states the chosen method of spoil removal must avoid damaging nearby trees, historic mews arches or street furniture.

The pro-forma asks how concrete will be supplied, where delivery lorries will be located and for how long, where concrete pumps whether static or mobile will be positioned, and how concrete will be transferred across the footway, and requires this to be illustrated with a numbered and dated drawing annotated with dimensions.

Only where 3m clear roadway width can be maintained. The RBKC pro-forma states that otherwise concrete must be hand mixed on site. That is a significant programme and cost consequence and it is decided by the street width, so it should be established before the method statement is written.

The principle is that safe pedestrian passage across the front of the site is maintained at all times. There are two usual solutions: appropriate ramping where hoses run across the footway, or a gantry securing the hose overhead. Where a council specifies a height it will say so, and RBKC's pro-forma gives a minimum of 2.3m. Check whether yours states a figure.

The pro-forma asks you to confirm that scaffolding delivery and collection will be undertaken in accordance with the CTMP, that scaffolding lorries will be positioned at the kerbside or appropriately on mews so deliveries and collections do not impact highway operation, and that a sufficient number of parking suspensions will be sought so scaffold lorries do not interfere with traffic.

Under the RBKC pro-forma the default is one. It asks you to confirm that no more than a single delivery vehicle associated with the development will be positioned on the highway in the vicinity of the site at any given time.

No, but the exceptions are narrow. For basement extensions to residential properties the pro-forma states the council will not agree to more than a single vehicle on the highway servicing the site at any time, except where a concrete pump is being used in conjunction with a concrete wagon. For some large development schemes, and solely at the council's discretion, more than one may be appropriate, and the maximum number must be specified and justified.

Yes. The RBKC pro-forma singles them out for the strictest application of the single vehicle rule. Basement schemes generate heavy spoil and concrete movements on residential streets, which is the combination the restriction exists to control.

Only by asking for it and justifying it in the plan. The pro-forma provides a box for the maximum number of vehicles simultaneously on the highway to be specified and justified, and states this is solely at the council's discretion and is for some large development schemes. It is not available by default.

Under the RBKC pro-forma, yes: a wheel washing facility shall be provided at all vehicular access gates to the development site, to ensure mud and detritus originating from the site is not deposited on the public highway. A submitted and approved Construction Management Plan for a replacement dwelling in Ribble Valley took the same approach, installing a temporary wheel wash at the entrance to each laydown area.