Construction and maintenance of new, altered or diverted streets and other structures
10.—(1) Subject to paragraph (5), any street to be constructed under this Order must be completed to the reasonable satisfaction of the street authority and must, unless otherwise agreed in writing with the street authority, be maintained by and at the expense of the undertaker to the reasonable satisfaction of the street authority for a period of 12 months from its completion and thereafter by the street authority.
(2) Subject to paragraph (5), where a street is permanently altered or diverted under this Order, the altered or diverted part of the street must be completed to the reasonable satisfaction of the street authority and, unless otherwise agreed in writing with the street authority, that part of the street must be maintained by and at the expense of the undertaker to the reasonable satisfaction of the street authority for a period of 12 months from its completion and thereafter by the street authority.
(3) Subject to paragraph (5), where a street is temporarily altered or diverted under this Order, the altered or diverted part of the street must be completed to the reasonable satisfaction of the street authority and the temporary alterations must be maintained by and at the expense of the undertaker.
(4) Where land not previously part of the highway comes to form part of the highway by virtue of the construction, diversion or alteration of streets under this Order, unless otherwise agreed in writing with the street authority, the land is deemed to have been dedicated as highway on the expiry of a period of 12 months from completion of the street that has been constructed, altered or diverted and is thereafter to be maintained by and at the expense of the street authority.
(5) In the case of any bridge or any other structure constructed under this Order to carry a street, both the street surface and structure of the bridge or other structure must be completed to the reasonable satisfaction of the street authority and, unless otherwise agreed in writing with the street authority, must be maintained by and at the expense of the undertaker to the reasonable satisfaction of the street authority for a period of 24 months from its completion and thereafter by the street authority.
(6) In any action against the undertaker in respect of loss or damage resulting from any failure by it to maintain a street under this article, it is a defence (without prejudice to 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.
(7) For the purposes of a defence under paragraph (6), 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.
(8) The date of completion of any works referred to in paragraphs (1), (2), (3), (4) and (5) is to be agreed between the undertaker and the street authority, acting reasonably.