Highways Act 1980

95 Supplemental provisions as to orders and agreements under sections 93 and 94

(1) Subject to subsection (2) below, the powers conferred by sections 93 and 94 above on a highway authority or a local highway authority are exercisable—

(a) in the case of a bridge outside Greater London, by the council of the county in which the bridge is situated ;

(b) in the case of a bridge in Greater London the highway over which is a metropolitan road or partly a metropolitan road, by the Greater London Council;

(c) in the case of any other bridge in Greater London, by the council of the borough in which it is situated, or, if it is in the City, by the Common Council.

(2) In the case of a trunk road bridge, the powers conferred on a highway authority by section 94 above are exercisable by the Minister; and neither those powers nor the powers conferred on a local highway authority by section 93 above are exercisable with respect to such a bridge by a local highway authority.

(3) Where a bridge other than a trunk road bridge is situated partly in one area and partly in another, the powers conferred by sections 93 and 94 above on a highway authority or a local highway authority are exercisable by the council who, by virtue of section 3 above, are the highway authority for the whole of the bridge or, if there is no such highway authority, by any council who could have exercised those powers if their area had included the whole of the bridge.

(4) For the purposes of the foregoing provisions of this section, the highway carried by a bridge, and the approaches to the bridge, are to be deemed to be part of the bridge.

(5) Where—

(a) a bridge crossing a railway is owned by railway undertakers and the railway is leased to other such undertakers, or

(b) a bridge crossing a canal is owned by canal undertakers and the canal is leased to other such undertakers,

references in sections 93 and 94 above and in this section to the owners of the bridge, railway or canal include references to those other undertakers.

(6) Nothing in sections 93 and 94 above or in this section or in any order made under section 93 above, authorises the stoppage of traffic on a canal without the consent of the canal owners, and a highway authority carrying out works authorised by any of the said sections, or by any such order, with respect to a bridge crossing a canal shall take such steps as may be necessary to prevent, so far as practicable, interference with traffic on the canal.

(7) The consent of the owners of a canal to the temporary stoppage of traffic on it pursuant to subsection (6) above shall not be unreasonably withheld, and any question whether the withholding of such a consent is unreasonable shall be determined by the Minister.

(8) In sections 93 and 94 above and in this section—

• " approaches " in relation to a bridge, means approaches for the maintenance of which the owners of the bridge are responsible and which connect the bridge to the highway maintainable at the public expense ;

• " trunk road bridge " means a bridge the highway over which is a trunk road or partly a trunk road;

• " canal " includes inland navigation;

and for the purposes of the said sections the towing path of a canal is to be deemed to form part of the canal.

(9) Sections 93 and 94 above and this section do not apply to any bridge which crosses the Manchester Ship Canal and is owned by the Manchester Ship Canal Company.