|
|
|
|
FAQ on Road Adoption -
most of our roads in Hampton are unadopted which causes a lot of
confusion for all residents. Some of the FAQ's below might give you a
better understanding. Feel free to contact us if you have further questions.
Q. Must estate roads be adopted?
A. No. There is no legal requirement for a developer to offer its roads for adoption.
Q. If a developer wants its roads adopted, how is that achieved?
A.
The most common method of adoption is a Road Adoption Agreement between
the Developer and the Council. These are usually referred to as
“Section 38” agreements.
Q. What does the existence of a S38 agreement mean?
A. It means that:
a) the adoption of the particular estate road(s) is guaranteed to take place at no cost to the frontagers,
b) The Council specifies the construction of the road and the standard of workmanship,
c) The developer avoids the problem of “retentions” from buyers of the new houses
Q. What is a frontager?
A. The owner of property that has a common boundary with a street. The `frontage’ is the length of that common boundary.
Q. Why does the Council specify the standard of work for adoptable streets?
A.
To ensure that the new streets are constructed so as to be durable over
time thus reducing council maintenance costs. The current design
specification is intended to provide a minimum 40-year life before any
significant maintenance work is necessary.
Q. What is a `retention’?
A.
It is the sum of money that a purchaser of a property on an unadopted
street, should hold back from the seller to meet the costs of
completing the road and having it adopted. The retention is paid to the
seller as and when the road is adopted.
Q. If my street has a S38 agreement but is not adopted, who is responsible for its maintenance?
A.
The Developer. The Developer is to all intents and purposes the highway
authority for that street up until the street is formally adopted by
the council as “maintainable at the public expense” and is responsible
for all maintenance before that, including street lighting, highway
drainage and any grass verges etc.
Q. If my street has no S38 agreement, who is responsible for its maintenance?
A.
Maintenance is most probably the responsibility of the developer but
there may be references in the Deed of Transfer (the original purchase
contract) that deal with this matter. Your legal representative who
acted for you in the purchase should be able to clarify the position.
Q. Where there is a S38 agreement, but the works are progressing slower than I expected, what can be done to speed them up?
A.
S38 agreement places obligations upon the developer to complete within
a certain timescale and where this is exceeded, the Council has the
option to initiate action to complete the works and charge the costs to
the Developer, or, if the Developer cannot pay, the Surety that
underpins the S38 agreement by means of a Bond. Such action by the
council is very much a last resort and as far as possible, the council
tries to expedite progress by means of negotiation/persuasion.
Q. Am I entitled to a reduction in my council tax if my road is not adopted?
A.
No. Income from the council tax does not fund highway maintenance. In
simple terms, central government make a grant to the council for
highway maintenance based on the total length of roads in the councils
area. Only when an estate road is adopted, is its length added to the
total and hence the grant increased.
|
|
|