Conservatives demand action as Birmingham streets are dug up again after costly improvements
Birmingham Conservatives are demanding a full progress report on action to tackle repeated roadworks and poor reinstatement, after Waterloo Street was dug up again following major public realm improvements.
Councillor Timothy Huxtable has written an open letter to the new Cabinet Member for Transport calling for faster action on measures previously agreed by Birmingham City Council to protect the city’s roads and pavements.
In December 2024, Conservatives brought a motion to Full Council highlighting the problem of “street scars” caused by utility works and repeated digging up of Birmingham’s roads and pavements.
The motion was backed by the Council and committed the Executive to bring forward proposals for a Lane Rental Scheme, examine stronger measures to secure high-quality reinstatement and improve the way residents and councillors report poor repairs. The Lane Rental proposal was subsequently included in the Council’s March 2026 budget plans.
Now Councillor Huxtable is asking the new administration to set out exactly what has been done and when Birmingham residents will see the promised changes.
The call comes after Waterloo Street was dug up again by Cadent despite being part of major recent public realm works in the city centre.
Councillor Timothy Huxtable said:
“People are understandably fed up with seeing the same streets dug up time and again.
“It is particularly frustrating when significant sums of public money have been spent improving an area, only for utility works to arrive and dig it up again.
“That is exactly why Conservatives brought this issue to Full Council in 2024. We secured cross-party agreement that Birmingham needed stronger reinstatement standards, better reporting and proposals for a Lane Rental Scheme.
“The Council has now also agreed the Lane Rental principle through its budget. The argument about whether we should act is over, what matters now is getting it done.
“As Chair of the Sustainability and Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee, I intend to make sure there is proper scrutiny of the progress made against those commitments. Scrutiny should not simply talk about problems after they have happened. It should challenge the Executive, track whether agreed actions are being delivered and push for better results for Birmingham residents.
“Conservatives have led the way on this issue, first by bringing forward practical proposals and now by using scrutiny to hold the administration to account for delivering them.”
The December 2024 motion also called on the Government to strengthen the rules governing utility reinstatement, including higher fines, clearer requirements for like-for-like repairs and reducing the period allowed for permanent reinstatement from six months to three.
Councillor Huxtable has asked the Cabinet Member to publish a progress report covering the commitments made in December 2024, alongside a clear timetable for introducing Birmingham’s Lane Rental Scheme. He is also seeking answers on how the Council will better coordinate utility works, protect recently improved streets, enforce high-quality like-for-like reinstatement and improve reporting of poor repairs.
Councillor Huxtable added:
“Waterloo Street should be a warning against carrying on as before.
“When taxpayers have funded major improvements to a street, the Council should be doing everything reasonably possible to protect that investment.
“Utility companies obviously need access to maintain essential infrastructure. The issue is whether works are properly coordinated, completed efficiently and reinstated to the standard residents have every right to expect. The new Cabinet Member was himself an opposition councillor when these measures were agreed. There is therefore an opportunity to build on that cross-party agreement and move faster. I will be asking the Sustainability and Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee to keep a close eye on progress. Birmingham has already agreed what needs to change. Residents now deserve to see it happen.”
Attached is copy of Cllr Huxtable's letter and photos of recent street scaring on Colmore Row/ Eden Place junction
