Commentary Exception 2: Roads
242.Paragraph 19 provides that the Approving Body is not under a duty to adopt drainage systems, or parts of a drainage system which are also a publicly maintained road. This paragraph defines the term “publicly-maintained road” and provides that a reference to a “road” could refer to a road in its entirety or just a part of a road.
243.Where part of an adopted drainage system is a publicly maintained road, or where a drainage system is entirely contained within a publicly-maintained road, the road maintaining authority (the highway authority), must exercise its functions in accordance with the approved plan for the drainage system, including any conditions of approval, and in accordance with national standards. The functions affected would include the highway authority’s functions of maintaining a road, and arranging for it to be properly drained under the Highways Act 1980. The maintaining authority must also designate the road as a “street with special engineering difficulties” under section 63 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991.
244.If a road is part of a drainage system (for example, by being constructed of permeable paving) but is privately maintained, then that part of the drainage system will need to be adopted by the Approving Body in the same way as the rest of the system. If a private road which is part of a drainage system subsequently becomes adopted by the highway authority (and therefore becomes a publicly maintained road) the Approving Body’s adoption of that part of the drainage system will lapse.