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North Somerset Council is responsible for managing the road network and issuing permits for any works on the roads. It issued two permits to Bristol Water in late 2021, each containing the condition to manually control temporary traffic signals.
The council prosecuted Bristol Water for breaching this condition on four occasions - at the A370 Bridgwater Road, Bleadon on 29 October and at the A369 Pill Road, Abbots Leigh on 23, 24 and 25 November.
North Somerset Magistrates Court fined Bristol Water £1,200 for each offence - a total of £4,800 - and ordered the company to pay a victim surcharge of £480 and the council's full costs of £694.94. It granted Bristol Water 28 days to make the full payment of £5,974.94.
Cllr Steve Hogg, the council’s executive member for highways and transport, said: “Our teams work hard with all work promotors to try to minimise disruption on our roads as far as reasonably practicable.
“While acknowledging roadworks are unavoidable and can be disruptive by their very nature, these particular instances caused unnecessary disruption and delay to road users.”
Details of approved works and activities affecting North Somerset's roads can be found at https://one.network/uk/northsomerset.