A SCHEME designed to improve the speed and coordination of roadworks has been hailed a success by council bosses despite failing to improve traffic flow around the city.

Brighton and Hove City Council has heralded the first year of a roadworks permit scheme despite an increase in journey times and a failure to bring the predicted level of benefits.

A six per cent drop in air pollution and reduction in crashes at a rate of two fewer a month have been attributed to the scheme.

Officers said it was “setting the standard” with five other highway authorities now following in their footsteps.

Under the scheme, firms wanting to dig up public roads apply for a permit and book time to carry out works – previously they only gave notice of their intention to carry out work.

Before its launch it was predicted that the scheme would bring £7.6 million of benefits to the city but in reality it brought only £5.2 million.

However, costs were also far lower than estimated, £754,685 compared to £527,500, while the council collected £565,000 in permit fees.

A quarter of the 679 roadworks inspected by officers failed to meet the conditions of their permit with BT the worst offenders with almost half of their roadworks judged non-compliant.

In total there were 345 permit breaches including 125 occasions when the council was not informed about unreasonable delays and 46 occasions when works were carried out without a permit.

A Brighton and Hove Buses spokeswoman said: “Prior to the introduction of the scheme we encountered numerous examples of road works appearing without our prior knowledge; often the first we found out about them was from a bus driver spotting a contractor’s noticeboard at the side of a road.

“All that changed almost overnight from March 30, 2015, and we now work very well together.”