Highways Act 1980

182 Supplementary provisions as to licences under section 181

(1) A highway authority may attach to any licence granted under section 181 above such conditions as they consider necessary to protect the apparatus of statutory undertakers and sewerage authorities, to ensure the safety and convenience of passengers in the highway and to prevent traffic therein being delayed, and it shall be a condition of every such licence that—

(a) before executing any works for the purpose of placing apparatus in or under the highway or for the purpose of the maintenance, repair or reinstatement thereof (except works for the purpose of carrying out emergency repairs), the licensee is to give not less than 7 days' notice in writing, stating the nature and place of the works proposed, to the highway authority and to any statutory undertakers or sewerage authority whose apparatus is likely to be affected, and is to satisfy their requirements as to the method of executing the works and as to the supervision thereof by them;

(b) as soon as reasonably practicable after executing works for the purpose of carrying out emergency repairs to any apparatus placed and left in or under the highway the licensee is to inform any statutory undertakers or sewerage authority whose apparatus may have been affected;

(c) any apparatus is, wherever practicable, to be laid by thrust boring;

(d) while executing any works in or under the highway the licensee is to cause the works to be properly fenced and guarded and to be properly lighted during the hours of darkness;

(e) as soon as reasonably practicable after executing any such works as are mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) above, the licensee is to make good any damage to the highway occasioned by those works ;

(f) the licensee is to give the authority not less than 6 weeks' notice of his intention to cease using or abandon the apparatus or, if the licence is one the assignment of which is prohibited, of his intention to part with his interest in the apparatus.

(2) A highway authority may attach to a licence granted by them by virtue of section 181(3)(b) above a condition that before assigning the licence to any other person the licensee is to obtain the consent of the authority to the assignment; and it shall be a condition of every licence granted by virtue of section 181(3)(c) above that within one month after any change in the ownership of the premises in question takes place the licensee is to inform the highway authority of it.

(3) A highway authority may by notice served on the licensee withdraw a licence granted by them under section 181 above—

(a) on the expiration of such period as may be specified in the notice, being a period of not less than 7 days beginning with the date of service of the notice on the licensee, if any condition of the licence is contravened by the licensee, or if the highway authority become aware of the fact that the licensee intends to cease using or abandon the apparatus or (if the licence is one the assignment of which is prohibited) that the licensee intends to part with his interest in the apparatus;

(b) on the expiration of such period as may be so specified, being a period of not less than 3 months beginning with the said date, if the authority consider the withdrawal of the licence is necessary for the purpose of the exercise of their functions as a highway authority.

(4) Where a licence under scetion 181 above expires or is withdrawn or surrendered, the highway authority by whom it was granted—

(a) may remove the apparatus to which the licence relates or alter it in such manner as they think fit and reinstate the highway and may recover the expenses reasonably incurred by them in so doing from the last licensee ; or

(b) if satisfied that the last licensee can, within such reasonable time as they may specify, remove such apparatus or alter it in such manner as they may require and reinstate the highway, may authorise him to do so at his own expense.

In this subsection and subsection (5) below " the last licensee " means the person who immediately before the expiration, withdrawal or surrender of the licence in question was the licensee or, if that person has died, his personal representatives.

(5) Before executing any works under subsection (4) above a highway authority or the last licensee, as the case may be, shall give not less than 7 days' notice to any statutory undertakers or sewerage authority whose apparatus is likely to be affected and shall satisfy their requirements as to the method of executing the works and as to the supervision thereof by them.

(6) The licensee and the person who immediately before the expiration, withdrawal or surrender of a licence under this section was the licensee or, if that person has died, his personal representatives shall indemnify the highway authority against any claim in respect of injury, damage or loss arising out of—

(a) the placing or presence in or under a highway of apparatus to which the licence relates, or

(b) the execution by any person of any works authorised by the licence or by the highway authority under subsection (4) above, or

(c) the execution by or on behalf of the highway authority of any works under that subsection;

but the foregoing provision is not to be taken as requiring any person to indemnify the highway authority against any claim in respect of injury, damage or loss which is attributable to the negligence of that authority.