Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Highway authority definition

What does Highway authority mean? In legal practice, a highway authority is the public body responsible for maintaining and managing the public highway network. In England and Wales it is defined in legislation, chiefly the Highways Act 1980: county councils, metropolitan district and London borough councils are highway authorities for most roads; Transport for London is highway authority for certain London roads; the strategic highways company (National Highways), under the Infrastructure Act 2015, is highway authority for motorways and trunk roads in England, and the Welsh Ministers for trunk roads in Wales. Key features include the section 41 duty to maintain highways maintainable at public expense...

Case law on highway authorities’ duties in adverse weather: flooding, drainage and ice under the Highways Act 1980 (England and Wales)

Published by a LexisNexis Local Government expert

Practice notes

This PractICE Note reviews case law on the Highway authority’s obligation to maintain highways at the public expense during periods of adverse weather. Those decisions reveal a clear distinction between permanent dangers arising from want of repair and transient hazards attributable to the elements, and confirm that, in practice, an Authority is required only to act reasonably and is not expected to achieve daily miracles over the winter months. The duty on every highway authority to maintain any highway maintainable at the public expense becomes more onerous when severe conditions prevail in winter. Ice, snow and flooding all increase the risks on the highway network and each makes the maintenance authority’s task considerably more difficult. The following cases demonstrate the need to balance obligations owed to the public with the sensible use of limited resources:

Flooding

Burnside v Emerson

In Burnside v Emerson, Mr Emerson’s car entered a pool of water, lost control and swung into the path of a vehicle driven by Mr Burnside. The highway authority responsible for the road where the incident occurred was joined as the second defendant in the proceedings...

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Nicholas Hancox

Nicholas Hancox Solicitors

Nicholas qualified in 1977. He specialises in Education Law, Local Government Law and Highways Law and has been authoring and editing for LexisNexis since 2000....

Alastair Frew

Lodders Solicitors

I am a partner in Lodders’ Real Estate Group and head of the Business Property team, having joined the firm in 2002. My clients often include business owners, commercial developers, private investors, and niche housebuilders, as well as the financial institutions that fund them. I also lead the Renewable Energy team at Lodders. In this team, we guide a growing number of landowners through the complex documentation needed for matters like forming a solar PV development, establishing a battery storage scheme, and incorporating a wind farm. I have published books through Law Brief Publishing on the subjects of highways and renewable energy, and regularly contribute to Lexis Nexis....

Sam Amphlett

Lodders Solicitors

I am a Legal Director in Lodders’ Real Estate Group. I joined the firm in 2023. My clients include SME housebuilders, business owners and private individuals. I specialise in planning and highways matters including advising on planning and highways enquiries from individuals, action groups, businesses and local authorities, with a particular interest in rights of way issues, biodiversity net gain, drafting and negotiating complex planning and infrastructure agreements and carrying out due diligence on property transactions....

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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