Stirling Council has had a road works compliance notice closed after the Scottish Road Works Commissioner found that the authority had improved standards at sites where pedestrian facilities had previously caused concern. The case matters beyond Stirling because it shows Scotland’s newer inspection powers being used to force practical changes on the ground.
Stirling Council has been released from a road works compliance notice after the Scottish Road Works Commissioner found that the authority had made substantial improvements in how it manages pedestrian safety at works sites.
The notice was issued in November 2025 after targeted monitoring identified problems with pedestrian facilities at Stirling road works sites. The council then met the Commissioner, Kevin Hamilton, and was given three months to make changes to process and procedure. When monitoring resumed, the Commissioner found that standards had improved enough for the notice to be closed.
The announcement is brief, but it points to a larger change in Scottish roads regulation. Road works are one of the least glamorous parts of public administration, which naturally means they are also one of the parts the public encounters most often. A badly managed works site can be more than a nuisance. It can turn a pavement into an obstacle course, push wheelchair users or parents with prams into unsafe diversions, leave older people uncertain where to cross, or place pedestrians beside live traffic with no sensible protection.
The Commissioner’s office has been gaining sharper tools. New inspection powers introduced by the Transport Scotland Act 2019 came into force on 1 April 2024, allowing the Commissioner and authorised compliance officers to inspect works carried out by both public utilities and councils. The Commissioner said two new compliance officers had been appointed for that role and that their early focus was compliance with the Safety at Street Works and Road Works Code of Practice at council sites.
Early findings showed why the powers mattered. By late 2024, compliance officers had observed more than 1,200 sites and found almost 400 safety standard non compliances, with the main failings relating to inadequate pedestrian facilities. Where breaches appeared systematic or serious, the Commissioner could issue a compliance notice requiring the organisation to bring its activities back into line. Failure to comply can be a criminal offence and can result in an unlimited fine.
That makes Stirling’s case part of a wider Scotland pattern in which pedestrian provision has emerged as one of the main weaknesses at road works sites. The Commissioner’s 2024 to 2025 monitoring report said observations were made across 29 mainland local authority areas, with the main issues involving lack of provision for pedestrians and lack of proper guarding of works activities.
Stirling is not the first authority to go through this process. North Lanarkshire Council was issued with a compliance notice in September 2024, and Fife Council received one in November 2024, both in relation to safety standards at road works sites. Follow up meetings and further monitoring later showed improvement, and those notices were closed in April and May 2025 respectively.
