Special Roads Act 1949
| Year | 1949 |
Special Roads Act , 1949
(12, 13 & 14 Geo. 6) CHAPTER 32.
An Act to provide for the construction of roads reserved for special classes of traffic; to amend the law relating to trunk roads; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
[11th May 1949]
Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Schemes for provision of special roads.
(1) Any highway authority may be authorised by means of a scheme under this section to provide, along a route prescribed by the scheme, a special road for the use of traffic of any class so prescribed.
(2) A special road authorised by a scheme under this section may be provided—
(a ) by means of the construction by the highway authority (in this Act referred to as the special road authority) of a new road along the route prescribed by the scheme or any part thereof;
(b ) by means of the appropriation under the following provisions of this Act of any road comprised in that route for which the special road authority are the highway authority;
(c ) by means of the transfer to that authority under the following provisions of this Act of any road comprised in that route for which they are not the highway authority.
(3) A scheme under this section authorising the provision of a special road shall—
(a ) in the case of a road to be provided by the Minister, be made by the Minister; and
(b ) in the case of a road to be provided by a local highway authority, be made by that authority and confirmed by the Minister,
in accordance with the provisions of Part I of the First Schedule to this Act.
(4) Before making or confirming a scheme under this section, the Minister shall give due consideration to the requirements of local and national planning, including the requirements of agriculture.
(5) Part III of the said First Schedule shall have effect for the purposes of the application to schemes under this section of the Statutory Orders (Special Procedure) Act, 1945; and Part IV of that Schedule shall have effect with respect to the validity and date of operation of such schemes.
(6) A scheme under this section may be submitted to the Minister jointly by any two or more local highway authorities, and any such scheme may determine which of those authorities shall be the special road authority for the special road or any part thereof, and may provide—
(a ) for the performance by that authority, in relation to the road or that part thereof, of any of the highway functions of any other authority who are party to the application; and
(b ) for the making of contributions by that other authority to the special road authority in respect of expenditure incurred in the performance of those functions.
2 Classification of traffic for purposes of special roads.
(1) Different classes of traffic may be prescribed by a scheme under section one of this Act in relation to different parts of the special road to which the scheme relates.
(2) The classes of traffic prescribed by any such scheme shall be prescribed by reference to the classes set out in the Second Schedule to this Act.
(3) The Minister may by order vary the composition of any class of traffic specified in the said Second Schedule; and where any such order has come into operation, any reference in a scheme in force under the said section one, whether made or confirmed before or after the date on which the order comes into operation, to any class of traffic to which the order relates shall be construed as a reference to that class as varied by the order.
3 Supplementary orders relating to special roads.
(1) At any time after a scheme under this Act authorising the provision of a special road has come into operation, provision may be made by an order under this section for any of the following purposes, that is to say:—
(a ) for appropriating as part of the special road, as from such date as may be specified in the order, any road comprised in the route prescribed by the scheme for which the special road authority are the highway authority;
(b ) for transferring to the special road authority, as from such date as may be specified in the order, any road comprised in that route for which they are not the highway authority;
(c ) for authorising that authority—
(i) to stop up, divert, improve, raise, lower or otherwise alter any road which crosses or enters the route of the special road or is or will be otherwise affected by the construction or improvement of the special road;
(ii) to construct any new road for purposes connected with any such alteration as aforesaid or for any other purpose connected with the special road or its construction, and to close after such period as may be specified in the order any new road so constructed for temporary purposes;
(d ) for transferring to such highway authority as may be specified in the order, as from such date as may be so specified, any road constructed by the special road authority in pursuance of the order or any previous order made under this section;
(e ) for authorising or requiring the special road authority to exercise, either concurrently with or to the exclusion of any local authority, any functions which, apart from the order, would be exercisable by that local authority in relation to the special road or any part thereof other than functions of that authority as local planning authority within the meaning of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1947, or the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act, 1947;
(f ) for any other purpose incidental to the purposes aforesaid or otherwise incidental to the construction or maintenance of, or other dealing with, the special road.
(2) An order under this section making provision in connection with a special road shall—
(a ) in the case of a special road to be provided by the Minister, be made by the Minister; and
(b ) in the case of a special road to be provided by a local highway authority, be made by that authority and confirmed by the Minister,
in accordance with the provisions of Part II of the First Schedule to this Act; and Part IV of that Schedule shall have effect with respect to the validity and date of operation of any such order.
(3) No order authorising the stopping up of a highway shall be made or confirmed by the Minister under this section unless the Minister is satisfied that another reasonably convenient route is available or will be provided in pursuance of an order under this section before the highway is stopped up; and no order providing for the appropriation by or transfer to the special road authority of an existing road comprised in the route prescribed by a scheme under this Act shall be made or confirmed as aforesaid unless the Minister is satisfied that another reasonably convenient route is available for traffic other than traffic of the class authorised by the scheme, or will be provided in pursuance of an order under this section before the date on which the appropriation or transfer takes effect, or unless in the case of any such traffic he is satisfied that such a route is not reasonably required.
(4) Where provision is made by an order under this section—
(a ) for transferring any road from one highway authority to another;
(b ) for enabling a highway authority to alter any road vested in another; or
(c ) for authorising or requiring any functions of a local authority to be exercised by a highway authority,
the order may transfer to the highway authority to whom the road is transferred, or in whom it is vested, or by whom those functions are to be exercised, any property, rights or liabilities (other than loans or loan charges) vested in or incurred by the other authority in connection with the road or the alteration, or for the purposes of those functions, as the case may be; and may for that purpose (whether or not the road in question is a trunk road) apply any of the provisions of section seven of the Trunk Roads Act, 1936, or any of the transitional provisions contained in the Fifth Schedule to that Act, subject to such modifications as may be specified in the order:
Provided that no such order shall provide for transferring to any authority (except by agreement with that authority) the fabric of any bridge over or tunnel under the special road, as distinct from any road carried by the bridge or through the tunnel, and from any approaches to the bridge or tunnel.
(5) An order under this section may provide for the payment of contributions—
(a ) by the special road authority to any other highway authority in respect of any additional liabilities imposed on that other authority in consequence of the provisions of the order or of any previous order made under this section;
(b ) to the special road authority by any other authority in respect of any liabilities so imposed on the special road authority, being liabilities which would otherwise have fallen to be discharged by the other authority;
and may also provide for the determination by arbitration of disputes as to the payment of such contributions.
4 Restriction on laying of mains, etc., in special roads.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the powers conferred on statutory undertakers by or under any enactment to lay down or erect any apparatus on, under or over any land shall not be exercisable in relation to any land comprised in the route of a special road except with the consent of the special road authority:
Provided that the consent of the special road...
To continue reading
Request your trial