Can the council close a road permanently ?

[Brads67]

Road is local to me, has been in use forever and a day, they tried to close it 30 yrs ago, gates were cut down when farmer tried to close it and claim it for his own access use, now they are going for it again.?

If it has been in use by the public for say 50yrs plus can they do this?.
It will go to public consultation.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Yes, a road can be closed. It would be required to go through the Stopping Up process which comprises an application to the DfT, public notification, and then public consultation. If contested it can go to Magistrates Ct.

[PhilboSE]

I understand you are enraged by this, but who is doing what to what road? You mention the council closing the road, then a farmer trying to claim it, now "they" are doing it all again.

Try again, perhaps with some salient details that make sense, then maybe people can advise. We'll also need to know what kind of road it is - adopted, private, what?

[PAULJ5555]

Yes, they did by me to move a zebra crossing

[Brads67]

OK
In Scotland for a start.

Local road that was "meant" to be closed on completion of an A1 bypass. This included putting in a "farm access flyover"
It has since continued to be used as a public road which it had always been before. (Bypass cut it in half , hence flyover)
Council now consulting to close it at one end to stop it being used as a connecting road between two towns.

[paintman]

Have you submitted your objection yet?

[Brads67]

Consultation is not open yet.

[EU_Foreigner]

Never experienced a consultation yet that was not pre-determined, irrespective of thousands of signatures against and nothing for (besides the council).

[Brads67]

I'm trying to figure out who will somehow score money from this.
Local planning dept is in developers pockets but I'm not sure how someone makes money from this.

Certainly is not being closed to suit the local populace that's for sure.

[Dave Hedgehog]

EU_Foreigner said:

Never experienced a consultation yet that was not pre-determined, irrespective of thousands of signatures against and nothing for (besides the council).

Red Ken openly admitted he was going ahead with the C zone and its extension regardless of the outcome of the consultation

[alangla]

Looks like they do it quite a lot - https://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/site_search/results... - see if you can find the appropriate order for your road in there. (obviously if it's Borders council rather than East Lothian, it won't be there!)

[Brads67]

Thanks for that.

Interesting statement was

"In order to stop up a road under Section 68 of the Roads (Scotland) Act
1984 the Council has to be satisfied that it is either unnecessary or it has
become dangerous."

Neither should apply here.

[4rephill]

Brads67 said:

Thanks for that.

Interesting statement was

"In order to stop up a road under Section 68 of the Roads (Scotland) Act
1984 the Council has to be satisfied that it is either unnecessary or it has
become dangerous."

Neither should apply here.

Why? - Is there no other route between the two towns in question?

[Bill]

Brads67 said:

I'm trying to figure out who will somehow score money from this.
Local planning dept is in developers pockets but I'm not sure how someone makes money from this.

Certainly is not being closed to suit the local populace that's for sure.

Perhaps the bridge was never designed for traffic levels and closing the road is cheaper than building a better bridge.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Ah. Scotland. Laws unto themselves. No idea how it works up there because you're so insistent on doing things differently.

Down here the decision is made by DfT and potentially magistrates so largely out of the Council's hands

[Brads67]

4rephill said:

Why? - Is there no other route between the two towns in question?

Only one other road and that is the one most heavily used. The road in question sees very light traffic.

[babelfish]

Brads67 said:

Local planning dept is in developers pockets

Do you have proof of this?

[parabolica]

Is this on the AWPR by any chance?

[Gary C]

MAP REF

:*)

[PaulD86]

Brads67 said:

I'm trying to figure out who will somehow score money from this.
Local planning dept is in developers pockets but I'm not sure how someone makes money from this.

Certainly is not being closed to suit the local populace that's for sure.

The answer is almost certainly that no one making money from it.

If this road links two towns but isn't the main road and a farmer has an interest in it then I am going to speculate it is a small rural road which is unsuitable for carrying large volumes of traffic between the two towns and which is not needed to do so either. It is entirely possible this could cause safety issues. Councils can also close roads due to them being in a dangerous state of repair. The road may also be private and unadopted by the council. The council can close such roads as well, however this comes with various caveats.