People are spending less time delayed by roadworks thanks to a Lancashire County Council scheme to take a tighter grip on them.

Highways bosses introduced a system in spring 2015 which meant that anyone who wanted to dig up a road had to the get the council's permission first.

A review has shown that after one year the time taken to do roadworks had been cut by around 17%, with delays avoided by residents and businesses potentially worth £16.4m to the economy.

County Councillor John Fillis, cabinet member for highways and transport, said: "Councils and utility companies have always had the right to do roadworks, but now everyone has to get permission beforehand rather than simply give notice of what they're intending to do.

"On the face of it that's quite a small change but it makes a big difference because now our highway regulation team can look at what is being proposed and make improvements before agreeing that the work can go ahead.

"This extra coordination often means that works are completed more quickly, and managed more closely, which reduces the impact on traffic.

"We've found that this new system has resulted on average in a 17% reduction in the length of time roadworks take, which has equated to them being in place for around 28,000 fewer days over the course of a year.

"Everyone relies on our roads, and how well they function can have a major impact on businesses. We had to present a business case to the Secretary of State to agree the permit scheme, and an assessment of the impact after the first year has calculated that the value to our economy of fewer delays could be as much as £16.4m."

The highway regulation and inspection team coordinates roadworks and carries out site visits once they begin, ensuring that any problems are picked up and resolved. A charge is made for each permit issued, which covers the cost of administrating the scheme. Over 33,000 permits were issued between February 2015 and February 2016.

Most permits were issued to utilities companies to carry out work on water, communications, gas and electricity infrastructure. The council's own highways team also has to apply for permits to carry out repairs and improvements to the roads, which allows better coordination between all activities taking place across the road network.