§ Mr. HarveyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will seek to amend relevant legislation so as to compel local highway authorities to adopt and maintain currently unadopted roads which provide sole access to adopted public roads.
§ Mr. Kenneth CarlisleI have no plans to do so. Local highway authorities' discretion enables all relevant considerations to be taken into account in decisions on adoption of private streets. A highway authority may, by virtue of section 236 of the Highways Act 1980, contribute towards the costs of a private street works scheme it has resolved to carry out if it considers that the wider public benefit warrants it.
§ Mr. HarveyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will seek to amend relevant legislation so as to compel local authorities to adopt and maintain currently unadopted roads before granting planning permission for the construction of new roads to which the unadopted roads in question will provide the only access.
§ Mr. Kenneth CarlisleNo. It is for the local planning authority, in considering whether to grant planning permission, to take account of whether access arrangements are acceptable. The question whether any unadopted road giving access to the development should become a publicly maintainable highway is for the highway authority to decide.