Agenda item

This report is in response to a request from Councillor Godwin and provides information on the adoption of roads on new development sites. 

Discussion:

Councillor Godwin introduced the item and explained that he had requested it as there had been an on-going issue within his ward. A national house builder had built a development over 10 years ago but the roads had still not been developed by the house builder to the appropriate standard required by the Local Authority to adopt it for future maintenance.

Councillor Godwin advised that he wished the committee to consider what views the council could take on this matter as the report showed more cases within Medway and what could be implemented to ensure this did not happen again. He suggested that Medway could lead a national campaign, as there might be other Local Authorities with similar problems.

The Head of Capital Projects, Road Safety and Networks advised that there were sufficient powers for the council to deal with situations like this if the developer had signed a legal S38 Agreement, as this enforced a bond that could be called in should the developer default on any part of the agreement. The problem arose when a developer did not sign the Agreement, which they could not currently be compelled to do, having the option of keeping the roads within a development as private.

The Head of Legal Services also advised that there were no powers under planning legislation to force builders to adopt new roads, they could legally remain un-adopted. It was possible under provisions of the Highways Act but this was extremely complicated and would incur significant costs for the Council, when the principal under which the Council acted was that all costs should be  borne by the developer.

Councillor Godwin responded that it would seem that the Council was not currently in a position to force the issue, so he asked what course of action the Council could pursue? He suggested the Council campaigned for an amendment to existing planning legislation to allow the granting of a planning condition to bring the new road to the required standard for adoption. He acknowledged that this would not help previous sites but would change future developments for the better.

The Vice-Chairman informed the Committee that an Annual Forum meeting was held between the Council and developers to discuss issues that had arisen throughout the previous year and that this might be a good venue to raise the matter.

The Committee discussed various development sites around Medway, as listed in paragraph 3.3 of the report. Members also considered whether there was scope to use a legal S106 notice to enforce the adoption of new roads? The Head of Legal responded that in some circumstances this might be possible, especially on larger sites.

Decision:

The committee agreed to:

(a)       note the report and responses to Members questions;

(b)               write to local MP’s to request their help in lobbying the government to amend planning legislation to allow Local Authorities to include the adoption of new roads as a planning condition;

(c)               write to the Local Government Association to enquire whether there were other Local Authorities with a similar problem;

(d)               request officers to raise this issue at the next Annual Forum between the council and developers;

(e)               request that officers investigate whether the adoption of new roads falls within the planning test for a legal S106 notice and to use this wherever possible on any new developments.