Highways (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1961

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
Citation1961 c. 63


Highways (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1961

(9 & 10 Eliz. 2) CHAPTER 63

An Act to make certain amendments to the law relating to highways, streets and bridges in England and Wales

Be it enacted by the Queen'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:—

S-1 Civil liability for non-repair of certain highways and bridges.

1 Civil liability for non-repair of certain highways and bridges.

(1) The rule of law exempting the inhabitants at large and any other persons as their successors from liability for non-repair of highways is hereby abrogated.

(2) In an action against a highway authority in respect of damage resulting from their failure to maintain a highway maintainable at the public expense, it shall be a defence (without prejudice to any other defence or the application of the law relating to contributory negligence) to prove that the authority had taken such care as in all the circumstances was reasonably required to secure that the part of the highway to which the action relates was not dangerous for traffic.

(3) For the purposes of a defence under the last foregoing subsection, the court shall in particular have regard to the following matters, that is to say—

(a ) the character of the highway, and the traffic which was reasonably to be expected to use it;

(b ) the standard of maintenance appropriate for a highway of that character and used by such traffic;

(c ) the state of repair in which a reasonable person would have expected to find the highway;

(d ) whether the highway authority knew, or could reasonably have been expected to know, that the condition of the part of the highway to which the action relates was likely to cause danger to users of the highway;

(e ) where the highway authority could not reasonably have been expected to repair that part of the highway before the cause of action arose, what warning notices of its condition had been displayed;

but for the purposes of such a defence it shall not be relevant to prove that the highway authority had arranged for a competent person to carry out or supervise the maintenance of the part of the highway to which the action relates unless it is also proved that the authority had given him proper instructions with regard to the maintenance of the highway and that he had carried out the instructions.

(4) In the application of this section to highways in London repairable by the inhabitants at large, references to the highway authority are references to the council responsible for the maintenance of the highway; and for the avoidance of doubt it is hereby declared that, by virtue of subsection (1) of section sixteen of this Act, any reference to a highway in this section includes a reference to a bridge.

(5) This section shall bind the Crown.

(6) The following provisions (which relate to the rule of law abrogated by this section) are hereby repealed, that is to say—

(a ) in section forty of the Crown Proceedings Act, 1947, paragraph (e ) of subsection (2);

(b ) in subsection (1) of section eighty-nine of the principal Act, the words from ‘and they’ onwards;

(c ) section two hundred and ninety-eight of the principal Act;

and the provisions of any enactment other than a public general enactment shall cease to have effect so far as they exempt a highway authority from liability for non-repair of a highway maintainable by the authority.

(7) This section shall not apply to damage resulting from breaking or opening or tunnelling or boring under a street by way of code-regulated works, being damage resulting from an event which occurred—

(a ) before the completion of the reinstatement or making good of the relevant part of the street in pursuance of the obligation imposed on the undertakers by subsection (2) of section seven of the Public Utilities Street Works Act, 1950; or

(b ) where the relevant part of the street is the subject of an election under the Third Schedule to thai Act (which, with minor exceptions, limits the obligation of undertakers to the execution of interim restoration), during the period mentioned in sub paragraph (a ) of paragraph 3 of that Schedule;

and expressions used in this subsection and in the said Act of 1950 have the same meanings as in that Act.

(8) This section shall come into force on the expiration of the period of three years beginning with the passing of this Act, and shall not apply to damage resulting from an event which occurred before the expiration of that period.

S-2 Relief of main carriageways of trunk roads from local traffic.

2 Relief of main carriageways of trunk roads from local traffic.

(1) The power conferred on the Minister by section seven of the principal Act to direct that a highway shall become a trunk road shall include power to direct that a highway which he considers suitable for the purpose of relieving a main carriageway of the trunk road from local traffic shall become part of the trunk road, whether or not the highway is separated from the remainder of the road by intervening land.

In this subsection references to a highway include references to a proposed highway.

(2) Without prejudice to the provisions of the foregoing subsection, the powers to improve a trunk road conferred on the Minister by the principal Act and the Trunk Roads Acts, 1936 and 1946, shall include power to construct, as part of the trunk road, a highway for the purpose aforesaid; but nothing in this subsection shall authorise the construction of a highway which is separated from the remainder of the trunk road by intervening land.

S-3 Further powers of local highway authorities to construct bridges over and tunnels under navigable waters.

3 Further powers of local highway authorities to construct bridges over and tunnels under navigable waters.

(1) A scheme made by a local highway authority under this section and confirmed by the Minister may make provision for the construction, as part of a highway or proposed highway which is or is to be a highway maintainable at the public expense by the authority (not being a special road), of a bridge over or a tunnel under any navigable waters (whether the sea, a river or other waters) specified in the scheme.

(2) The following provisions of the principal Act, that is to say, subsection (8) of section eleven, subsections (3) to (5) and (7) of section twenty, subsection (1) of section two hundred and eighty-five, subsections (1), (3) and (6) of section two hundred and eighty-six, Part II of the First Schedule and the Second Schedule (which among other things provide for safeguarding navigation over waters affected by a scheme under section eleven of that Act authorising the construction of such bridges and tunnels as part of a special road, require the inclusion in the scheme of relevant plans and specifications, specify the procedure for publicising and giving effect to the scheme, and make it subject to special parliamentary procedure in certain cases), shall apply to a scheme under this section as they apply to a scheme under the said section eleven, as if the references in the said subsection (8) to the special road and the special road authority were references to the bridge or tunnel in question and the highway authority for it and the references in the said Part II to the special road and its route were references to the proposed site of the bridge or tunnel.

S-4 Contributions to expenditure of parish councils in maintaining footpaths etc.

4 Contributions to expenditure of parish councils in maintaining footpaths etc.

(1) The highway authority for any footpath or bridleway which a parish council have power to maintain under section forty-six of the principal Act may undertake to defray the whole or part of any expenditure incurred by the council in maintaining the footpath or bridleway.

(2) For the purposes of any enactment restricting the expenditure of a parish council, their expenditure shall be deemed not to include any expenditure falling to be defrayed by a highway authority by virtue of the foregoing subsection.

S-5 Extension of powers of highway and local authorities to plant and protect trees in highways etc.

5 Extension of powers of highway and local authorities to plant and protect trees in highways etc.

(1) The following powers conferred on a highway authority by subsections (1) and (2) of section eighty-two of the principal Act, that is to say—

(a ) the power to maintain and protect trees, shrubs and grass verges planted by the authority in a highway maintainable by them or in other land mentioned in the said subsection (2); and

(b ) the power to alter or remove any such verge and any thing provided by the authority for the maintenance or protection of trees, shrubs or verges so planted by them,

shall be exercisable in relation to, and to things provided for the maintenance or protection of, trees, shrubs or verges whether or not they were provided or planted by the highway authority; and subsections (3) and (4) of that section (which provide for the exercise by the other authorities there mentioned of the powers conferred on a highway authority by the said subsection (1)) shall have effect accordingly.

(2) The following amendments consequential on the provisions of the foregoing subsection shall be made in the said subsection (1), that is to say—

(a ) for the words ‘by them under this subsection’ in both places where they occur there shall be substituted the words ‘, whether or not by them, in such a highway’; and

(b ) for the words from ‘provided’ onwards there shall be substituted the words ‘provided, whether or not by them, for the maintenance or protection of any tree, shrub or verge in such a highway’.

(3) Any reference in the said section eighty-two as amended by...

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