Special Roads Act 1949

3Supplementary orders relating to special roads

(1)At any time after a scheme under this Act authorising the provision of a special road has come into operation, provision may be made by an order under this section for any of the following purposes, that is to say :—

(a)for appropriating as part of the special road, as front such date as may be specified in the order, any road comprised in the route prescribed by the scheme for which the special road authority are the highway authority ;

(b)for transferring to the special road authority, as from such date as may be specified in the order, any road comprised in that route for which they are not the highway authority;

(c)for authorising that authority—

(i)to stop up, divert, improve, raise, lower or otherwise alter any road which crosses or enters the route of the special road or is or will be otherwise affected by the construction or improvement of the special road;

(ii)to construct any new road for purposes connected with any such alteration as aforesaid or for any other purpose connected with the special road or its construction, and to close after such period as may be specified in the order any new road so constructed for temporary purposes ;

(d)for transferring to such highway authority as may be specified in the order, as from such date as may be so specified, any road constructed by the special road authority in pursuance of the order or any previous order made under this section ;

(e)for authorising or requiring the special road authority to exercise, either concurrently with or to the exclusion of any local authority, any functions which, apart from the order, would be exercisable by that local authority in relation to the special road or any part thereof other than functions of that authority as local planning authority within the meaning of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1947, or the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act, 1947 ;

(f)for any other purpose incidental to the purposes aforesaid or otherwise incidental to the construction or maintenance of, or other dealing with, the special road.

(2)An order under this section making provision in connection with a special road shall—

(a)in the case of a special road to be provided by the Minister, be made by the Minister ; and

(b)in the case of a special road to be provided by a local highway authority, be made by that authority and confirmed by the Minister,

in accordance with the provisions of Part II of the First Schedule to this Act ; and Part IV of that Schedule shall have effect with respect to the validity and date of operation of any such order.

(3)No order authorising the stopping up of a highway shall be made or confirmed by the Minister under this section unless the Minister is satisfied that another reasonably convenient route is available or will be provided in pursuance of an order under this section before the highway is stopped up; and no order providing for the appropriation by or transfer to the special road authority of an existing road comprised in the route prescribed by a scheme under this Act shall be made or confirmed as aforesaid unless the Minister is satisfied that another reasonably convenient route is available for traffic other than traffic of the class authorised by the scheme, or will be provided in pursuance of an order under this section before the date on which the appropriation or transfer takes effect, or unless in the case of any such traffic he is satisfied that such a route is not reasonably required.

(4)Where provision is made by an order under this section—

(a)for transferring any road from one highway authority to another ;

(b)for enabling a highway authority to alter any road vested in another ; or

(c)for authorising or requiring any functions of a local authority to be exercised by a highway authority,

the order may transfer to the highway authority to whom the road is transferred, or in whom it is vested, or by whom those functions are to be exercised, any property, rights or liabilities (other than loans or loan charges) vested in or incurred by the other authority in connection with the road or the alteration, or for the purposes of those functions, as the case may be ; and may for that purpose (whether or not the road in question is a trunk road) apply any of the provisions of section seven of the Trunk Roads Act, 1936, or any of the transitional provisions contained in the Fifth Schedule to that Act, subject to such modifications as may be specified in the order :

Provided that no such order shall provide for transferring to any authority (except by agreement with that authority) the fabric of any bridge over or tunnel under the special road, as distinct from any road carried by the bridge or through the tunnel, and from any approaches to the bridge or tunnel.

(5)An order under this section may provide for the payment of contributions—

(a)by the special road authority to any other highway authority in respect of any additional liabilities imposed on that other authority in consequence of the provisions of the order or of any previous order made under this section;

(b)to the special road authority by any other authority in respect of any liabilities so imposed on the special road authority, being liabilities which would otherwise have fallen to be discharged by the other authority ;

and may also provide for the determination by arbitration of disputes as to the payment of such contributions.