PLANS are in the pipeline to reduce the disruption caused to residents and businesses in Darlington by roadworks.

A review group set up by Darlington Borough Council's environment scrutiny committee in September last year will report its findings to the committee next week.

It recommends the adoption of an action plan to help deliver improved services in highways maintenance, particularly in respect of statutory work conducted by companies including Transco, Northumbrian Water, BT, and Northern Electric.

The cost of the plan is believed to be covered by the council's budget and the actions will help the authority meet national performance targets.

Any improvements will be a welcome relief to residents and businesses in parts of the borough which have been repeatedly disrupted by roadworks. Areas affected include Milton Street, Harris Street and Cobden Street.

In the past year, traders in the Whessoe Road area have also complained about roadworks affecting their trade.

Many of these problems have been the result of activities by services companies, whose maintenance work does not need council permission.

Section 74 of the New Roads and Streetworks Act, which was adopted in Darlington in April last year, enables a charge to be levied on companies which fail to complete works in a timescale agreed with the council.

But, the review group will tell committee members it is not convinced that has achieved any significant reduction in the duration of roadworks, or the resulting disruption.

Figures for 2001/2 show only Northern Electric and NTL had a pass rate of more than 90 per cent in terms of the code of practice for inspection of street works, covering performance of works in progress and reinstatement.

A report from the review group shows a slight improvement in the condition of Darlington's A roads.

Figures from last November indicate 21.3 per cent of the 51km of main roads were in need of serious repair work. That compared with 29.5 per cent in October 1998.

A spokesman for the council said: "We do have an action plan from our Best Value review, and part of that action plan is to implement further improvements identified by the review group.