Diversion and closure of highways - overviewPublic highways

Where a public highway is no longer needed or when the land is needed for a development to take place, a highway authority has statutory powers to stop up and permanently close it. Highways may also be closed due to natural causes, such as incursion of the sea.

The main statutory powers are in:

There are a small number of consultees that the highway authority must serve notice on before making the application. Many applications are made for parts of a highway, eg verges.

A statutory diversion creates a new highway and stops up an existing highway. The new highway will be maintainable at public expense.

The effects of closure or diversion are the:

Specific provisions exist to protect interests of statutory undertakers for pipes and cables beneath a closed/diverted highway.

Natural causes for diversion and closure

The common law sees a highway as a right to travel from A to B and it is the passage that is important, not the precise piece of ground over which the right is thought to exist.

If a highway on or near the coast is destroyed by incursions from the sea, the courts will not insist that the authority responsible for its maintenance must restore it to a usable state.