Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the need to support residents on unadopted roads who do not have the funds to bring those roads up to the required statutory standard.

The department has not made an assessment of the need to support for residents on unadopted roads who do not have the funds to bring those roads up to the required statutory standard. Policy decisions regarding the process for local authorities adopting roads are a matter for the Department for Transport.

The Government has no direct role in decisions on whether or not a road will be adopted, however in 2017 the Department for Transport issued an Advice Note covering the means by which a road can be adopted by the highway authority. The Advice Note can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/adoption-of-roads-by-highway-authorities.

Under Sections 205-218 of the Highways Act 1980 (known as the ‘private street works code’), the highway authority can resolve to make up a private street at any time. However, the cost of doing so is usually met by owners of the properties that front the street concerned. The street may then be adopted by the highway authority. Most local authorities do not make the decision to use the powers in Section 205 to 218 of the 1980 Act unless a high proportion of residents have approached them seeking adoption of the private street and that they understand their obligation to fund all the works necessary.