Digitalising processes: Flintshire County Council saves 25 days a year managing work zone permit applications & increases public inquiry resolution efficiency by 50%

About Flintshire County Council

Flintshire County Council (FCC) is a local government in North Wales, serving over 156,000 individuals and overseeing more than 1,227 kilometers of roadway.

Collaborating with Conwy, Denbighshire, Gwynedd, Isle of Anglesey, and Wrexham, FCC is dedicated to achieving the objectives outlined in both the North Wales Joint Local Transport Plan and LLwybr Newydd: the Welsh transportation strategy. This includes enhancing the efficiency of the transportation system to withstand both scheduled and unforeseen events, and improving public communications.

The Challenge

FCC process between 400 and 500 work zone permit applications every year. This was always an incredibly manual and time-intensive procedure, involving Microsoft Word and drawing closures on map screenshots.

Then 2020 and the Covid-19 pandemic came along. More people started working from home creating pressure on utility services and mass fiber infrastructure roll out in the UK began, causing a real shift in the types and amount of road work being conducted.

This made it increasingly challenging to coordinate and manage work zone permits and created an urgent need to increase planning efficiency at FCC.

The surge of activity on the roads has also increased the volume of inquiries Flintshire receives from the members of the public. To address this, the council set itself a goal of improving how they communicate with their constituents by implementing an easier, interactive online service.

The Solution

Making work zone permit management 63% faster

Using one.network to manage its work zone permits, Flintshire’s Street Works team is now 63% more efficient, saving over 25 working days a year.

Technical Officer, Kate Prior-Jones , and the Work Zone Permits team at FCC now use the Causeway one.network Traffic Management solution to plan and plot road closures and detours, plus automatically generate any required documentation, on Causeway one.network. The platform allows them to do this with just a few clicks and provides better visibility of everything happening on the road network, enabling them to work from a single interface.

“Causeway one.network has made our work zone permit management so much faster and easier. The map gives us a shared view of all activity on the network allowing us to instantly spot conflicts which need to be rectified before approval.”

– Kate-Prior Jones, Technical Officer, Flintshire County Council

With this increased transparency and a streamlined workflow, the team is saving 25 minutes per work zone permit and can ensure every permit is as efficient as it can be.

Reducing cancellations and costs with greater network visibility

The platform has also helped FCC improve planning and reduce the costly cancellation of roadworks across the Flintshire network. Jack Mitchell, Streetscene Technical Officer for Service Delivery, uses Causeway one.network on a daily basis as part of his role within the Flintshire Commercial Services team.

“When planning in works with the Supervisor, I use one.network to ensure the road space is clear and then book it in using the platform’s Traffic Management module. By doing this, it helps Flintshire Commercial Services to run smoothly and without delays, especially with a busy yearly program.

Using Causeway one.network ensures that we are fully aware of the highway occupation that takes place in areas we intend to work, prior to allocating resources and ordering materials. The cancellation of works can be costly, and the system significantly reduces the need to cancel programmed works.”

– Jack Mitchell, Streetscene Technical Officer for Service Delivery, Commercial Services, Flintshire County Council

The platform has proved especially useful for Jack and his team for planning the North Mid-Wales Trunk Road Agency cyclic maintenance works which occur all year round.

Digitalising public communications

Now that Flintshire publishes all their work zones and closures on Causeway one.network, they can be easily viewed on the interactive, user-friendly map by members of the public, councilors, and external stakeholders.

The council has also embedded the Causeway one.network map on their website, making it even easier for residents to find the information they need.

Having all this information readily available online also allows internal teams to address the inquiries they receive without reaching out to the Work Zone Permits team.

To further improve public communications, FCC is now training their Contact Centre team to use Causeway one.network so that they can respond to inquiries more accurately and efficiently.

Accelerating query resolutions and roadworks investigations by 50%

Sam Tulley, Area Manager for Traffic, Work Zones and Maintenance, at FCC is often tasked with investigating public reports of roadworks causing disruption and delays on the network. Previously, using a desktop-based roadworks data system, conducting a query into historic roadworks would take at least 5 minutes.

Now, with Causeway one.network’s Historical Map, this task is 50% more efficient. Sam can conduct a historical search in under 2 minutes. The data is shown on a user-friendly map-based interface, showing the location, dates and times of the work, responsible parties, permits, and traffic management in place.

“Causeway one.network saves me significant time when investigating disruption reports compared to a traditional desktop-based tool. I now have immediate access to detailed information about past and current works and can resolve queries far quicker.

Having access to unique job references also means my team and I can communicate more effectively about specific roadworks with utilities and other stakeholders if problems arise or changes need to be made.”

– Sam Tulley, Area Manager for Traffic, Street Works and Maintenance, Flintshire County Council

Other benefits unlocked using one.network

FCC’s Inspectors are also benefiting from the platform. When out in the field, they can use Causeway one.network to quickly locate a work site, identify the responsible party, and check any planned traffic management measures.

With this information, they can then contact the Site Supervisor and communicate any necessary changes to ensure a smooth-flowing network. Often, this will eliminate the need for a site visit, saving time and unnecessary travel.

Key Outcomes

• 63% faster work zone permit management with each permit taking 25 minutes less to process.
• 25 working days saved every year with a more efficient digital work zone permit management process.
• 50% more efficient at investigating historical roadworks inquiries, with each search taking less than two minutes.

For more information on how one.network can help speed up your work zone permit management and public inquiry resolutions, get in touch.