Highways Act 1980

255 Liability for certain expenses resulting from order under section 254. E+W

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, an order authorising the compulsory acquisition of a right by a highway authority under section 254 above for a purpose specified in section 254(1)(a) or (b) shall, except so far as may be otherwise agreed, provide that the bridge or approaches to which the order relates is to be constructed, reconstructed or altered, as the case may be, and maintained, at the expense of the highway authority.

(2) Where an order is made authorising the compulsory acquisition of a right by a highway authority under section 254 above for the purpose of substituting a bridge for a level crossing over a railway, the expenses of the construction and maintenance of the bridge and of the approaches to the bridge shall, subject to subsection (3) below, be defrayed either—

(a) wholly by the highway authority, or

(b) partly by the highway authority and partly by the person from whom the right is acquired (hereafter in this section referred to as “the railway owners”) as, in default of agreement, may be determined by arbitration.

(3) Unless otherwise agreed—

(a) the railway owners’ share of the expenses of such construction and maintenance, except so much of those expenses as is attributable to works executed at the instance of the railway owners for the improvement of their undertaking, shall be an amount equivalent to the saving to the railway owners estimated to result from the substitution of a bridge for the level crossing; and

(b) any additional expense incurred by the railway owners by reason of any alteration of a railway due to the provisions of the order, other than provisions applied for by the railway owners for the improvement of their undertaking, shall be defrayed by the highway authority.

(4) Where by virtue of an agreement or award made under subsection (2) above the railway owners are required to contribute to the expenses of a highway authority the contribution shall, at the option of the railway owners, be paid—

(a) as a lump sum, or

(b) by annual payments of such amount, and continuing for such number of years, as may be agreed between the railway owners and the highway authority or, in default of agreement, as may be determined by arbitration, or

(c) by perpetual annual payments of such amount as may be so agreed or determined.

(5) Where by means of an order authorising a compulsory acquisition under section 254 above a highway authority acquire a right from a local authority or statutory undertakers any additional expense which, in consequence of—

(a) the construction, reconstruction or alteration of the bridge to which the order relates, or of the approaches to that bridge, or

(b) the construction of the drainage system to which the order relates,

is thereafter incurred by the local authority or statutory undertakers in connection with the widening or alteration, on land which was vested in them before the making or confirmation of the order, of any railway, canal, inland navigation, dock, harbour, works or apparatus belonging to them, shall be defrayed by the highway authority.

(6) Any question whether any such additional expense as is mentioned in subsection (5) above has been incurred as there mentioned, or as to the amount of any such additional expense, shall, in default of agreement, be determined by arbitration.

(7) An order authorising the compulsory acquisition of a right by a highway authority under section 254 above for the purposes of a system of road drainage shall, except so far as may be otherwise agreed, provide that the system is to be constructed and maintained at the expense of the highway authority.