The A303 (Amesbury to Berwick Down) Development Consent Order 2023

Streets

Application of the 1991 Act

8.—(1) Works constructed or maintained under this Order in relation to a highway which consists of or includes a carriageway are to be treated for the purposes of Part 3 (street works in England and Wales) of the 1991 Act as major highway works if—

(a) they are of a description mentioned in any of paragraphs (a), (c) to (e), (g) and (h) of section 86(3) (highway authorities, highways and related works) of that Act; or

(b) they are works which, had they been executed by the highway authority, might have been carried out in exercise of the powers conferred by section 64(1) (dual carriageways and roundabouts) of the 1980 Act or section 184(2) (vehicle crossings over footways and verges) of that Act.

(2) In Part 3 of the 1991 Act in relation to works which are major highway works by virtue of paragraph (1), references to the highway authority concerned are to be construed as references to the undertaker.

(3) The following provisions of the 1991 Act do not apply in relation to any works executed under the powers conferred by this Order—

• section 56(3) (power to give directions as to timing of street works);

• section 56A(4) (power to give directions as to placing of apparatus);

• section 58(5) (restriction on works following substantial road works);

• section 58A(6) (restriction on works following substantial street works);

• section 73A(7) (power to require undertaker to re-surface street);

• section 73B(8) (power to specify timing etc. of re-surfacing);

• section 73C(9) (materials, workmanship and standard of re-surfacing);

• section 78A(10) (contributions to costs of re-surfacing by undertaker); and

• Schedule 3A(11) (restriction on works following substantial street works).

(4) The provisions of the 1991 Act mentioned in paragraph (5) (which, together with other provisions of that Act, apply in relation to the execution of street works) and any regulations made, or code of practice issued or approved under, those provisions apply (with the necessary modifications) in relation to any stopping up, alteration or diversion of a street of a temporary nature by the undertaker under the powers conferred by article 11 (temporary stopping up and restriction of use of streets) whether or not the stopping up, alteration or diversion constitutes street works within the meaning of that Act.

(5) The provisions of the 1991 Act(12) referred to in paragraph (4) are—

• section 54(13) (advance notice of certain works), subject to paragraph (6);

• section 55(14) (notice of starting date of works), subject to paragraph (6);

• section 57(15) (notice of emergency works);

• section 59(16) (general duty of street authority to co-ordinate works);

• section 60 (general duty of undertakers to co-operate);

• section 68 (facilities to be afforded to street authority);

• section 69 (works likely to affect other apparatus in the street);

• section 75 (inspection fees);

• section 76 (liability for cost of temporary traffic regulation); and

• section 77 (liability for cost of use of alternative route),

and all such other provisions as apply for the purposes of the provisions mentioned above.

(6) Sections 54 and 55 of the 1991 Act as applied by paragraph (4) have effect as if references in section 57 of that Act to emergency works were a reference to a stopping up, alteration or diversion (as the case may be) required in a case of emergency.

(7) Nothing in article 9 (construction and maintenance of new, altered or diverted streets and other structures)—

(a) affects the operation of section 87 (prospectively maintainable highways) of the 1991 Act, and the undertaker is not by reason of any duty under that article to maintain a street or to be taken to be the street authority in relation to that street for the purposes of Part 3 of that Act; or

(b) has effect in relation to street works to which the provisions of Part 3 of the 1991 Act apply.

Construction and maintenance of new, altered or diverted streets and other structures

9.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (6), (7) and (8), any highway (other than a trunk road or special road) to be constructed under this Order must be completed to the reasonable satisfaction of the local highway authority in whose area the highway lies and, unless otherwise agreed in writing with the local highway authority, the highway, including any culverts or other structures laid under it, must be maintained by and at the expense of the local highway authority from its completion.

(2) Subject to paragraphs (3), (6), (7) and (8), where a highway (other than a trunk road or special road) is altered or diverted under this Order, the altered or diverted part of the highway must be completed to the reasonable satisfaction of the local highway authority and, unless otherwise agreed in writing with the local highway authority, that part of the highway, including any culverts or other structures laid under it, must be maintained by and at the expense of the local highway authority from its completion.

(3) Subject to paragraphs (6), (7) and (8), where a footpath or bridleway is altered or diverted under this Order along a vehicular private means of access, the altered or diverted part of the highway must, when completed to the reasonable satisfaction of the highway authority and unless otherwise agreed in writing, be maintained (including any culverts or other structures laid under that part of the highway) by and at the expense of the person or persons with the benefit of the vehicular private means of access.

(4) Where a street which is not, and is not intended to be, a public highway is constructed, altered or diverted under this Order, the street (or part of the street as the case may be) must, when completed to the reasonable satisfaction of the street authority, unless otherwise agreed in writing, be maintained by and at the expense of the undertaker for a period of 12 months from its completion and at the expiry of that period by and at the expense of the street authority.

(5) Subject to paragraphs (6), (7) and (8), where a highway is de-trunked under this Order—

(a) section 265(17) (transfer of property and liabilities upon a highway becoming or ceasing to be a trunk road) of the 1980 Act applies in respect of that highway; and

(b) any alterations to that highway undertaken under powers conferred by this Order prior to and in connection with that de-trunking must, unless otherwise agreed in writing with the local highway authority, be maintained by and at the expense of the local highway authority from the date of de-trunking.

(6) In the case of any bridge constructed under this Order to carry a highway other than a trunk road or special road over a trunk road or special road, the highway surface must from its completion be maintained by and at the expense of the local highway authority and the structure of the bridge must be maintained by and at the expense of the undertaker.

(7) In the case of any bridge constructed under this Order to carry a highway (other than a trunk road or special road) over another highway which is not a trunk road or a special road, both the highway surface and structure of the bridge must be maintained by and at the expense of the local highway authority from their completion.

(8) In the case of a bridge constructed under this Order to carry a private right of way (whether or not it also carries a footpath or bridleway), the surface of the street and the structure of the bridge must be maintained by and at the expense of the undertaker.

(9) In any action against the undertaker in respect of loss or damage resulting from any failure by the undertaker to maintain a street under this article, it is a defence (without affecting any other defence or the application of the law relating to contributory negligence) to prove that the undertaker had taken such care as in all the circumstances was reasonably required to secure that the part of the street to which the action relates was not dangerous to traffic.

(10) For the purposes of a defence under paragraph (9), the court must in particular have regard to the following matters—

(a) the character of the street and the traffic which was reasonably to be expected to use it;

(b) the standard of maintenance appropriate for a street of that character and used by such traffic;

(c) the state of repair in which a reasonable person would have expected to find the street;

(d) whether the undertaker knew, or could reasonably have been expected to know, that the condition of the part of the street to which the action relates was likely to cause danger to users of the street; and

(e) where the undertaker could not reasonably have been expected to repair that part of the street before the cause of action arose, what warning notices of its condition had been displayed,

but for the purposes of such a defence it is not relevant to prove that the undertaker had arranged for a competent person to carry out or supervise the maintenance of the part of the street to which the action relates unless it is also proved that the undertaker had given the competent person proper instructions with regard to the maintenance of the street and that the competent person had carried out those instructions.

Permanent stopping up of streets and private means of access

10.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this article, the undertaker may, in connection with the construction of the authorised development, stop up each of the streets and private means of access shown on the rights of way and access plans and specified in columns (1) and (2) of Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Schedule 3 (permanent stopping up of highways and private means of access and provision of new highways and private means of access) to the extent specified and described in column (3) of those Parts of that Schedule.

(2) No street or private means of access specified in columns (1) and (2) of Parts 1 and 3 of Schedule 3 (being a street or private means of access to be stopped up for which a substitute is to be provided) is to be wholly or partly stopped up under this article unless—

(a) the new street or private means of access to be constructed and substituted for it, which is specified in column (4) of those Parts of that Schedule, has been completed to the reasonable satisfaction of the street authority and is open for use; or

(b) a temporary alternative route for the passage of such traffic as could have used the street or private means of access to be stopped up is first provided and subsequently maintained by the undertaker, to the reasonable satisfaction of the street authority, between the commencement and termination points for the stopping up of the street or private means of access until the completion and opening of the new street or private means of access in accordance with sub-paragraph (a).

(3) No street or private means of access specified in columns (1) and (2) of Parts 2 and 4 of Schedule 3 (being a street or private means of access to be stopped up for which no substitute is to be provided) is to be wholly or partly stopped up under this article unless the condition specified in paragraph (4) is satisfied in relation to all of the land which abuts on either side of the street or private means of access to be stopped up.

(4) The condition referred to in paragraph (3) is that—

(a) the undertaker is in possession of the land; or

(b) there is no right of access to the land from the street or private means of access concerned; or

(c) there is a reasonably convenient access to the land otherwise than from the street or private means of access concerned; or

(d) the owners and occupiers of the land have agreed to the stopping up.

(5) Where a street or private means of access has been stopped up under this article—

(a) all rights of way over or along the street or private means of access so stopped up are extinguished; and

(b) the undertaker may appropriate and use for the purposes of the authorised development so much of the site of the street or private means of access as is bounded on both sides by land owned by the undertaker.

(6) Any person who suffers loss by the suspension or extinguishment of any private right of way under this article is entitled to compensation to be determined, in case of dispute, as if it were a dispute under Part 1 (determination of questions of disputed compensation) of the 1961 Act.

(7) This article is subject to article 32 (apparatus and rights of statutory undertakers in stopped up streets).

Temporary stopping up and restriction of use of streets

11.—(1) The undertaker may, during and for the purposes of constructing the authorised development, temporarily stop up, alter, divert or restrict the use of any street and may for any reasonable time—

(a) divert the traffic from the street; and

(b) subject to paragraph (3), prevent all persons from passing along the street.

(2) Without limitation on the scope of paragraph (1), the undertaker may use any street temporarily stopped up or restricted under the powers conferred by this article and within the Order limits as a temporary working site.

(3) The undertaker must provide reasonable access for pedestrians going to or from premises abutting a street affected by the temporary stopping up, alteration, diversion or restriction of a street under this article if there would otherwise be no such access.

(4) The undertaker must not temporarily stop up, alter, divert or restrict the use of any street for which it is not the street authority without the consent of the street authority, which may attach reasonable conditions to any consent, but its consent must not be unreasonably withheld or delayed.

(5) Any person who suffers loss by the suspension of any private right of way under this article is entitled to compensation to be determined, in case of dispute, as if it were a dispute under Part 1 (determination of questions of disputed compensation) of the 1961 Act.

Access to works

12.  The undertaker may, for the purposes of the authorised development, form and lay out means of access, or improve existing means of access at such locations within the Order limits as the undertaker reasonably requires for the purposes of the authorised development.

(1)

Section 64 was amended by section 102 of, and Schedule 17 to, the Local Government Act 1985 (c. 51) and section 168(2) of, and Schedule 9 to, the 1991 Act.

(2)

Section 184 was amended by sections 35, 37, 38 and 46 of the Criminal Justice Act 1982 (c. 48); by section 4 of, and paragraph 45 of Schedule 2 to, the Planning (Consequential Provisions) Act 1990 (c. 11); and section 168 of, and paragraph 9 of Schedule 8 and Schedule 9 to, the 1991 Act.

(3)

Section 56 was amended by sections 40 and 43 of, and Schedule 1 to, the Traffic Management Act 2004 (c.18).

(4)

Section 56A was inserted by section 44 of the Traffic Management Act 2004.

(5)

Section 58 was amended by sections 40 and 51 of, and Schedule 1 to, the Traffic Management Act 2004.

(6)

Section 58A was inserted by section 52 of the Traffic Management Act 2004.

(7)

Section 73A was inserted by section 55 of the Traffic Management Act 2004.

(8)

Section 73B was inserted by section 55 of the Traffic Management Act 2004.

(9)

Section 73C was inserted by section 55 of the Traffic Management Act 2004.

(10)

Section 78A was inserted by section 57 of the Traffic Management Act 2004.

(11)

Schedule 3A was inserted by section 52(2) of, and Schedule 4 to, the Traffic Management Act 2004.

(12)

Sections 54, 55, 57, 60, 68 and 69 were amended by section 40(1) and (2) of, and Schedule 1 to, the Traffic Management Act 2004.

(13)

Section 54 was amended by section 49(1) of the Traffic Management Act 2004.

(14)

Section 55 was amended by section 49(2) and 51(9) of the Traffic Management Act 2004.

(15)

Section 57 was amended by section 52(3) of the Traffic Management Act 2004.

(16)

Section 59 was amended by section 42 of the Traffic Management Act 2004.

(17)

Section 265 was amended by section 146 of, and paragraph 45 of Schedule 3 to, the 1984 Act and section 57 of and paragraph 52 of Schedule 1 to, the Infrastructure Act 2015 (c. 7).