Road adoption

Road adoption is a means by which the highway authority can designate a ‘private’ street as a public highway, which then becomes maintainable at public expense.

A 'private street' is a road, which is maintained at public expense. This means that the County Council, as a highway authority, is under no obligation to carry out repairs or cleansing to the street, even though it could be a public right of way to which highway and traffic law can be applied.  The County Council may consider adopting a ‘private street’ provided it is first brought up to current adoptable standards by the owners of the road.

Under an agreement with the County Council, the Borough Council is responsible for adopting roads within new developments on their behalf. 

New roads that have been constructed in accordance with the County Council’s guidelines are normally adopted by way of an agreement between the developer and the Council under Section 38 of the Highways Act.  Responsibility for the maintenance of new estate roads, including street lighting and verge maintenance, remains with the developer until such time as the roads have been formally adopted as highway--after which repair and maintenance becomes the responsibliity of the County Council.  The roads will not be formally adopted until the Council is satisfied that they have been built to the required standard.