Highways Act 1980

266 Transfer to Minister of privately maintainable bridges carrying trunk roads. E+W

(1) Where a highway comprising a bridge to which this section applies becomes a trunk road, the bridge by which that highway is carried is, subject to subsection (2) below, transferred to the Minister by virtue of this section on the date on which the highway becomes a trunk road (“the transfer date”).

(2) If on the transfer date a part of the highway carried by the bridge is not a trunk road, the bridge is not transferred to the Minister by virtue of this section unless and until that part becomes a trunk road.

(3) Where a bridge is transferred to the Minister by virtue of this section, then, subject to subsection (4) below—

(a) the bridge, including any building or structure comprised in it and the highway carried by it, vests by virtue of this section in the Minister for all the estate or interest of the owners therein, and

(b) any statutory provision in force, in relation to the bridge, for the protection or benefit of statutory undertakers has effect, subject to any necessary modifications, as if for any reference therein to the owners of the bridge there were substituted a reference to the Minister.

(4) The Minister and the owners may, by agreement in writing made either before or after the transfer date, agree that the provisions of subsection (3) above with respect to the transfer of property shall not apply or, as the case may be, shall be deemed not to have applied, to such property comprised in the bridge as may be specified in the agreement.

(5) In respect of any bridge which is transferred to the Minister by virtue of this section, the Minister shall pay to the owners such sum as may be agreed between the Minister and the owners, or in default of agreement such sum as may be determined by arbitration to represent the value to the owners of the bridge as an asset productive of revenue.

For the purposes of this subsection a bridge is not to be treated as an asset productive of revenue unless at the time when the bridge is transferred by virtue of this section—

(a) a contract is in force under which payments have been made or will accrue to the owners in respect of the use of the bridge; or

(b) the bridge includes a building constructed or adapted for use by the owners for the purposes of their undertaking or for letting to some other person.

(6) Where a bridge transferred to the Minister by virtue of this section carries the highway over a railway, canal, way or other works used for the purposes of an undertaking carried on by the owners, then, so long as those works are so used—

(a) the Minister shall, before entering on any land of the owners for the purpose of executing works for the maintenance, improvement or alteration of the bridge, give notice to the owners specifying the general nature of the works proposed to be executed;

(b) except with the consent of the owners, the Minister shall not reduce the headway or any span of the bridge; and

(c) if the headway of the bridge is reduced in consequence of subsidence due to mining operations, or of works carried out by the owners for the purpose of raising the railway, canal, way or other works to a level not higher than their level before the subsidence occurred, the Minister shall, if so required by the owners, raise the bridge so far as may be necessary to give the same headway as before the subsidence occurred.

(7) A consent required for the execution of works by the Minister under subsection (6) above shall not be unreasonably withheld, and any question whether the withholding of such a consent is unreasonable shall be determined by arbitration.

(8) Any dispute between the Minister and any person as to the property or liabilities transferred by virtue of this section, or as to the liability imposed on the Minister by subsection (6)(c) above to carry out works, shall be determined by arbitration.

(9) This section applies to all bridges (not being highways maintainable at the public expense) which carry the highway over a railway or highway or over a canal, river, watercourse, marsh or other place where water flows or is collected or over a ravine or other depression, other than—

(a) swing bridges,

(b) bridges which carry a railway as well as a highway, and

(c) bridges to which a right to levy tolls is attached;

but this section does not apply to Rochester Bridge.

(10) In this section—

• “bridge” includes so much of the approaches thereto as supports or protects the surface of the trunk road;

• “owners”, in relation to a bridge, means the persons who immediately before the transfer of the bridge to the Minister were responsible for the maintenance of it, and includes any persons who, in pursuance of any agreement with the persons so responsible, were then discharging that responsibility on their behalf.