UTILITY companies could soon have to sign up to a permit scheme if they want to dig up the town’s roads.

A motion was passed at last week’s council meeting that will see officers explore new ways of dealing with the issue of roadworks, after many of the town’s roads ground to a halt last year amid a flurry of schemes.

As it stands, local authorities have limited powers when it comes to co-ordinating firms that want to carry out roadworks for reasons such as repairing pipes.

An example of the problems this can cause was seen last November, when a number of smaller works around the town compounded the disruption caused by more major works, leading to chaos on the roads.

New methods are being looked at to prevent this problem from occurring again.

One is a code of conduct programme, which has been adopted in Bristol and is voluntarily signed up to by utility companies .

Councillors are also looking at a permit scheme, similar to the one in Manchester. This process could take several years to implement.

A motion on dealing with the problem was put forward by the Labour Group and amended to gain cross party support.

Councillor Dale Heenan (Con, Covingham and Dorcan), the cabinet member for transport, said: “During November, after less than six months in charge as the member for transport, I said that there must be change in the way the road network was managed in Swindon.

“My proposals included that utility companies should be required to ask for permission from Swindon Council before digging up our roads, to ensure better co-ordination.

“This was supported by all of the councillors on the Highways Committee and the Scrutiny Committee, so the specific details are now being worked out.”

Coun Bob Wright (Lab, Town Centre) first put the motion forward and said it should allow residents to be more informed, preventing a repeat of November.

He said: “While we all knew about the works on Bruce Street Bridges, we didn’t know about the impact of closing Northern Road at the same time.

“First we could go down the voluntary route, which they have done in Bristol, and then if not then we can use the permit scheme.

“If there is a degree of coordination then we can avoid long-running works happening on multiple roads at the same time.”

Members from the Streetsmart and Highways Overview Scrutiny Committee will look at the issue.