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On the ride from Bow to Holborn today it feels like there has been a conscious decision to implement as many mid-to-minor roadwork sites as possible.
This is happening all over London. Often seems to happen around this time of year, usual explanation is that the local authorities road budget is on a "use it or lose it" basis so they go on a spree at the end of the financial year so it doesn't come out of next years funds. Tho this may be an urban myth.
Whoever rents out those little temp traffic lights is onto a winner tho.
middleofnowhere-
You are absolutely correct. Having a parent who used to work in Local Government, there is indeed a rush to show a usage of the allocated budget, otherwise it gets with-held from the next financial year's budget. Hence the splurge of meaningless projects.
On the flip-side, if you ever want something in your locality sorted out/maintained, Feb/Mar is an ideal time to start hassling your local authority.
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This is happening all over London. Often seems to happen around this time of year, usual explanation is that the local authorities road budget is on a "use it or lose it" basis so they go on a spree at the end of the financial year so it doesn't come out of next years funds. Tho this may be an urban myth.
It kind of depends on what scheme you're talking about. Most schemes get designed in the summer and autumn, consulted on in winter, and implemented in spring, and for them it's simply part of the usual design timetable that the works come along now. Some major schemes have one or two years for design and months for implementation, and those may go on site at other times.
There are only some items, usually small ones, to which the 'end of year' thing applies, like cycle stands, to mop up some underspend, but properly designing and approving full schemes, often complex, takes longer.
Spend all of this year's budget, get the same next year, or more. Save some money, get your budget cut.
Underspend isn't seen as 'saving money', it's seen as bad budgeting. With better flows of information available, things are moving away from 'award lump sum for any old schemes at the Council's discretion' (money either coming from TfL, from the Council itself, or from other sources), which always made underspend likely, to 'let's fund a list of specific, and costed schemes to make underspend as unlikely as possible'.
finger_jockey
Oliver Schick
On the ride from Bow to Holborn today it feels like there has been a conscious decision to implement as many mid-to-minor roadwork sites as possible. On the upside the air was definitely less toxic this morning. 6/10.