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Design and the Public Highway

Credit: Sara Fletcher, Kent County Council

Design and the Public Highway

Many changes to the built environment involve the network of local roads, paths and open spaces which form the public highway. These changes range from a householder requesting a dropped kerb to a major development including new roads, footways and cycle routes.

Any changes to or affecting the public highway require formal agreement of the relevant highway authority: Kent County Council or Medway Council.

In many cases these changes also require planning consent; however, it is important to note that that the granting of planning consent does not mean that the granting of the other consents mentioned below is a given. For this reason, we recommend that anyone considering works which may affect the public highway engage with the relevant highway authority at an early stage in the design process.

Both Kent County Council and Medway Council offer a pre-application advice service providing advice on planning applications that will affect the highway. This can cover proposals of any size, from a small single building to a major housing development, with the cost depending on the type and size of the proposal.

Kent County Council also offers a free outline technical review of proposals affecting highway assets. This is separate from the planning process, but will help you to ensure that your proposals will be acceptable to us as the highway authority. To find out more and request an application form, please email assetmanagement@kent.gov.uk.

Designing for the future – a highways asset management approach

It is important that Kent and Medway’s roads, footways and other highway assets remain serviceable and continue to look attractive well into the future. This means choosing materials which are robust, have a long lifecycle, and can be maintained simply and cost-effectively.

More information about our approach to managing our highway assets can be found here:

Kent County Council has developed guidance on many aspects of highway design. Following this guidance will help you to develop designs that will be acceptable to the highway authority and the communities that use them.

Kent County Council has also developed a formal technical approval process for new highway assets and alterations to existing highway assets, and particularly welcomes engagement with developers and designers at or before the outline design stage.

New roads, footways and cycle routes

Most new residential or commercial developments will include new roads, footways and cycle routes, and related assets such as street lights, drainage, and soft landscaped areas. These may remain privately owned and maintained, but in many cases the developer will wish them to be adopted as part of the public highway and maintained at public expense. The adoption of new developments is carried out by legal agreement under Section 38 of the Highways Act 1980.

Works to the existing public highway

These may include:

  • Works which may be required as a condition of planning approval, for example to provide a footway or a pedestrian crossing so that people living in a new residential development can walk safely to the local school, shops and other amenities. These works are carried out by legal agreement under Section 278 of the Highways Act 1980.
  • Works to create an entrance from an existing road into a new development. These works are also carried out under Section 278 of the Highways Act 1980.
  • Dropped kerbs to enable a vehicle to be driven across a path. Guidance on factors to consider before applying for a dropped kerb, such as trees and utility equipment, may be found via the links below:
  • Works to create or modify a highway structure such as a bridge or culvert, or a geotechnical measure such as a reinforced earth embankment. To discuss such works please contact Kent County Council’s Structures Development Control team by email: structurestechnicalapproval@kent.gov.uk or contact Medway Council.

Works on private land which may affect the public highway

  • Some works carried out on private land may affect the highway. These include works to cellars, to retaining walls which support the highway or land above the highway, and to balconies, signs or other structures which project over the highway. To discuss such works, please contact Kent County Council’s Structures Development Control team by email: structurestechnicalapproval@kent.gov.uk or contact Medway Council.

Stopping up of part of the public highway

In some cases, part of the existing highway may be ‘stopped up’ so that it ceases to be highway. However, this will only be agreed where the land is no longer needed for highway purposes, or where a better alternative is to be provided as part of a new development. The extinguishment of highway rights can only be carried out by way of a stopping up order, processed under Section 116 of the Highways Act 1980, which requires final approval at a magistrates’ court. This process can take 12 months and cost the applicant around £5,000. The first stage in this process is to make a highway boundary enquiry to check whether there are highway rights over the land.

Kent Lane Rental Scheme

The Kent Lane Rental Scheme gives companies that need to close a road or lane to carry out works on the highway a financial incentive to programme their works so that they cause less disruption to highway users.

A daily rate, based on one of four bands, is charged to companies working on specific roads during busy periods.

Street works permits

Under the powers of the Traffic Management Act 2004, Kent County Council and Medway Council each operate a permit scheme to enable them to coordinate and manage activities on the public highway. The permit schemes ensure that reliable and timely information is communicated to those who need it, enabling differences between those competing for space or time in the street to be resolved in a positive and constructive way.

It is important to note that:

  • All works that impact the highway will require a permit.
  • Any request for road space for works with a duration greater than ten days must be received a minimum or three months in advance.
  • Any works that require a road closure, speed reduction or any other Temporary Traffic Order must be communicated to the Streetworks team a minimum of three months in advance.
  • Where traffic lights are required to control traffic at a single location for two months or more, temporary traffic signals (permanent style equipment mounted temporarily and connected to a mains power supply) should be used. Portable traffic signals are only suited to short term use (less than two months duration) and multiple locations throughout a period of works.

Each permit scheme is managed by the relevant street works team. If you are proposing works that may affect the highway, you should contact the street works team as early as possible to discuss the works and to ensure the correct permits and permissions to work on the highway are in place.

All images of Kent and Medway highways credited to Sara Fletcher, Kent County Council.