Plans to introduce a lane-rental system to help reduce congestion on UK roads have been outlined by the government. The idea is that utility firms will now have to pay a fee to local councils if they work on the roads during peak travel periods. Companies deciding to dig up the roads at quieter times would avoid the charge.

Philip Hammond, the UK’s transport secretary, said the disruption cause by road works was often expensive. One estimate puts the price of disruption at some £4 billion every year. He added that he hoped the proposals, which will now be put forward for public consultation, will give utility firms an incentive to work on the roads when there is less traffic.

Local councils have already received guidelines on how lane rental schemes can be managed and the government is hoping that the local authorities will come up with their own suggestions for implementing a rental scheme.

Any money which is raised is meant to be put back into other projects designed to reduce the amount of congestion on the roads. If the scheme is eventually adopted then London could be targeted to run the system. The proposals say that any charges being made to companies undertaking work on the roads need to be fair and in proportion to the amount of disruption being created.

According to Mike Sergeant, a local government correspondent for the BBC, it is likely that local authorities will want to come up with their own plans for charging for disruption rather than have Whitehall tell them how to behave.