The Traffic Management Act (TMA) received Royal Assent on the 22nd July 2004. Its main objective is to reduce congestion and disruption on the road network.

The TMA sets out certain Network Management Duties, to help and encourage local traffic authorities to achieve its traffic aims:

· more effective co-ordination by highway authorities of the various works carried out in the street, whether these are authority road works, utility street works or miscellaneous activities such as the placing of skips, scaffolds and deposits on the highway.

· co-ordination of any operation that may effect the highway network for example refuse collection, deliveries, school transport and events such as carnivals, sporting events etc

· introducing a range of new powers to allow utility works to be better controlled by the introduction of The Traffic Management Permit Scheme 2007. Allowing certain contraventions of the law, such as parking offences, to be dealt with by civil means by Civil Enforcement Officers, rather than through the criminal process.

Part 2 of the TMA is a statutory duty placed on all local traffic authorities to help improve the flow of traffic their own networks and on the network of others. The duty applies to all traffic to include pedestrians, horses, motorcycles, lorries, cars and bicycles.

Under the Network Management Duty, the local authority has a duty to reduce the causes of congestion and disruption on the road network, by co-ordinating and managing road and street works effectively, the management of incidents, event planning, the control of parking and the network as a whole.

We as a local traffic authority have appointed a Traffic Manager who has overall responsibility for these statutory duties.