London Government Act 1963

12 Powers in respect of traffic signs, etc.

(1) The Minister of Transport or the Greater London Council may, to such extent as that Minister or Council may consider necessary in connection with any order under section 34 of the Road Traffic Act 1960, section 10 (1) of this Act or section 28 of the Road Traffic Act 1962 made or proposed to be made by that Minister or, as the case may be, that Council—

(a) exercise as respects any road in Greater London which is not a trunk road any powers exercisable by the highway authority for that road in connection with the placing of traffic signs on or near that road in pursuance of section 52 of the said Act of 1960 and affix any such sign to any lamp-post or other structure in the highway, whether or not belonging to that Minister or Council;

(b) authorise or require the highway authority for any such road to place in the carriageway such bollards or other obstructions as that Minister or Council may consider appropriate for preventing the passage of vehicles, or vehicles of any class or description, at any point at which their passage (whether in any direction or in one direction only) is prohibited by any such order as aforesaid and to maintain and light those obstructions;

(c) authorise or require any highway authority to remove any obstruction placed by that authority in pursuance of an authorisation or requirement under the last foregoing paragraph.

(2) To such extent as the Minister of Transport or, as the case may be, the Greater London Council may consider necessary in connection with any order such as is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section, whether made or proposed to be made by that Minister or by that Council, that Minister may do with respect to any trunk road, or as the case may be that Council may do with respect to any metropolitan road, anything which the authority making or proposing to make the order might under subsection (1)(b) of this section require to be done with respect to any other road by the highway authority therefor.

(3) The Greater London Council or, to such extent as the Minister of Transport may consider necessary in connection with any order made or proposed to be made by him under the said section 34 or 28, that Minister may give to the highway authority for any road in Greater London which is not a trunk road such directions with respect to the adjustment, modification or replacement of, or of any part of, the mechanism of traffic signs, being light signals controlled by that authority, as that Council or Minister may consider expedient in the interests of the movement of traffic.

(4) If a highway authority fail to comply with any requirement or direction under subsection (1) or (3) of this section the Minister of Transport or, as the case may be, the Greater London Council may carry out the work required by the requirement or direction, and the expense incurred by that Minister or Council in so doing shall be recoverable summarily as a civil debt from the authority.

(5) As respects any traffic sign placed by the Minister of Transport or the Greater London Council in the exercise of the powers conferred by subsection (1)(a) of this section, it shall be the duty of that Council—

(a) to take such steps to maintain, and to make such alteration of, that sign as may be necessary or expedient in connection with the order in connection with which it was placed ;

(b) to remove that sign upon that order ceasing to have effect;

and that Minister may recover from that Council summarily as a civil debt any expenses incurred by him by virtue of the said subsection (1)(a).

(6) As respects any road in Greater London other than a trunk road the Greater London Council shall be the competent authority for the purposes of section 22 of the said Act of 1960 with respect to signs for indicating speed restrictions.

(7) References in this section to a highway authority include references to any person who, not being a highway authority, is responsible for the maintenance of a road.

(8) The power of the Minister of Transport under section 63 of the Road Traffic Act 1960 to make advances towards expenses incurred in relation to traffic signs shall be exercisable with respect to any expenses incurred by the Greater London Council-in relation to the erection, maintenance, alteration or removal of traffic signs or by virtue of subsection (2) of this section; and the said section 63 shall apply in relation to any such obstruction as is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section as it applies in relation to traffic signs.