(1)Subject to section 71(1) and (2) of this Act, the roads authority may, either on their own initiative or at the request of any person, make an order stopping up any road which they consider—
(a)has become dangerous to the public other than by reason of its crossing or entering the route of another road which is a public road or of its being affected by the construction or improvement of such other road; or
(b)is or will become unnecessary.
(2)Before making an order under—
(a)subsection (1)(a) above; or
(b)subsection (1)(b) above on the ground that the road is unnecessary,
the roads authority shall satisfy themselves that a suitable alternative road exists or that no alternative road is necessary.
(3)An order under subsection (1)(b) above made only on the ground that a road will become unnecessary shall not come into operation until—
(a)the road has become unnecessary; and
(b)a suitable alternative road exists.
(4)An order under subsection (1) above—
(a)may provide for the stopping up of a road subject to the reservation of a means of passage along the road for pedestrians, cyclists or both; and
(b)shall, except in a case to which section 132 of this Act applies, include provisions for the preservation of any rights of statutory undertakers in respect of any apparatus of theirs which immediately before the date of the order is under, in, on, over, along or across the road to which the order relates.