Southampton City Council, working alongside Balfour Beatty, has launched a consultation on a revised lane rental scheme with fewer roads included than its original proposal.
The new scheme would introduce daily charges of £2,500 for a full road closure and £1,500 for the closure of one lane or for the use of temporary traffic lights.
Estimates based on a cost-benefit analysis of the scheme suggest that the council could see as much as £374,000 in income per year from the lane rental scheme.
An initial scheme proposal was submitted to the Department for Transport (DfT) in April this year, but was rejected as it included over 10% of its road network, which is the upper limit stipulated in the current government guidelines.
To rectify this, the revised scheme only includes 67 roads, which were selected for inclusion in the scheme following a review of the traffic-sensitivity designations across Southampton, along with data taken from the bus open data service (BODS), which was used to ‘identify specific bus flow criteria’.
According to the consultation overview published by the council, the scheme will only apply to the ‘most congested and critical parts’ of its road network, with the charges applied to roads designated as traffic-sensitive or those that are protected within designated timeframes.
The council has said that discounts would be offered in specified circumstances, such as if the work includes major infrastructure improvements or if operators collaborate to reduce the overall length of time closures or temporary traffic measures are needed.
The consultation is seeking views from ‘those potentially affected’ by the possible introduction of a lane rental scheme and will take place from 12 August to 9 September 2025.
More information on the proposed scheme and how to participate in the consultation can be found here.
Image credit: Shutterstock @Ssisabal
