Department for Transport (DfT) officials and consultants Halcrow were headed to the regions this week if the network management duty to keep traffic moving is making a difference on the ground.

The first of 10 regional workshops were due to be held in Chelmsford and Bradford to give traffic managers and transport planners an opportunity to report what they believe is being accomplished under the duty ‘to keep traffic moving’.

The events are part of the process of assessing whether councils are meeting the duty’s requirements, which could ultimately prompt intervention in an authority falling far short.

The national Traffic Managers Forum had called for a process for assessing the performance of local authorities that ‘makes sure the DfT was getting the right picture,’ according to Mark Kemp, chair of the forum.

This followed disquiet that the last ratings of authorities were based more on presentation of progress reports than on what was happening on the ground.

John Lashmar, traffic manager at Sheffield City Council, said: ‘There was a perception that the first scores were based more on how authorities were telling it, than how it actually was.’

He suspected that the finding that less than 50% of authorities were failing to effectively manage incidents reflected ‘more the contents of the reports than the reality’.

Local government had pushed for templates for reporting progress to ensure councils were covering everything the DfT wanted, but the Department had resisted. Kemp said the decision to hold the workshops was ‘a positive step’.

‘We should get a chance to ask the DfT what they want us to provide,’ he said, allowing councils to revisit the sections of their draft local transport plan progress reports on the duty.

Jeff White, project manager at Halcrow for the evaluation of parts two, three and four of the Traffic Management Act 2004, stressed the intention was ‘not to score authorities.’

Last time, authorities were rated ‘excellent’, ‘good’, ‘fair’ or ‘weak’ (Surveyor, 15 March 2007). A report on the workshops – which would not attribute comments to encourage frank participation – by Halcrow, would not highlight ‘weakness’, but ‘areas of opportunity’ where action could deliver improvements.

Surveyor has learnt that authorities across England – including Durham and Cornwall – are producing network management plans, which White said would ‘help to demonstrate that appropriate consideration has been given to fulfilling the duty.’