Transport (London) Act 1969

34 Traffic signs

(1) In section 64 of the [1959 c. 25.] Highways Act 1959 (which confers on a highway authority a general power to improve a highway maintainable at the public expense by them) at the end there shall be added the following subsection:—

“(4) In relation to any highway in Greater London maintainable at the public expense which is neither a trunk road nor a metropolitan road, subsections (2) and (3) of this section shall have effect for the purposes of, and of the provision of equipment for, the erection, maintenance, alteration or removal of traffic signs which are light signals for controlling the movement of vehicular traffic or of pedestrians, but for those purposes only, as if that highway were maintainable by the Greater London Council and not by the London borough council concerned or, as the case may be, by the Common Council.”

(2) In section 55 of the Act of 1967 (which relates to the powers and duties of highway authorities as to the placing of traffic signs) at the end there shall be added the following subsection:—

“(4) For the purposes of the provisions of this section and any other provisions of this Act relating to traffic signs—

(a) in the application of those provisions to traffic signs in Greater London which are light signals for controlling the movement of vehicular traffic or of pedestrians, but not in their application to any other matter, the Greater London Council shall at all times be deemed to be the highway authority for all roads in Greater London other than trunk roads;

(b) without prejudice to the powers of the highway authority for the road in question, the Greater London Council shall also be deemed to be the highway authority for any road in Greater London for which they are not in fact the highway authority for the purposes, but for the purposes only, of the exercise by them as respects that road under section 56(1) of this Act of any powers exercisable by the highway authority for that road”;

and accordingly subsection (2) of section 56 of that Act (which enables the Council to give directions to other highway authorities with respect to such light signals as aforesaid) shall cease to have effect.

(3) In subsection (1) of the said section 56 (under which the Council may, to such extent as the Council may consider necessary in connection with any order under section 6 or 9 of the Act of 1967 made or proposed to be made by the Council, 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)—

(a) the provisions of that subsection shall be divided so that the words from " may" in the first place where it occurs to the words " the Council" in the third place where those words occur form paragraph (a) of that subsection;

(b) after that paragraph (a) there shall be inserted the words “and

(b) may in any other circumstances after consultation with the highway authority concerned”;

(c) for the words " not a trunk road " there shall be substituted the words " neither a trunk road nor a metropolitan road ".

(4) At the end of the said section 56 there shall be inserted the following subsection:—

“(4) The powers of the Council by virtue of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) above shall extend to the removal or repositioning of any traffic sign on or near the road in question whether or not placed by the Council, and on the removal or repositioning by the Council of any such sign placed by an authority other than the Council that sign shall vest in the Council; and, except with the consent of the Council or in pursuance of a direction under section 55(2) of this Act, the highway authority for that road shall not remove, alter or in any way interfere with any traffic sign placed or repositioned on or near that road by the Council by virtue of that paragraph.”

(5) In section 104(1) of the Act of 1967, in the definition of " highway authority ", after the words " trunk road " in the first place where those words occur there shall be inserted the words " and subject to the provisions of section 55(4) of this Act ".

(6) On the appointed day for the purposes of subsection (2) of this section, there shall be transferred to the Council—

(a) all traffic signs which are such light signals as are mentioned in the subsection added by the said subsection (2) to section 55 of the Act of 1967 and which immediately before that date were vested in the council of any London borough or in the Common Council; and

(b) subject to subsections (7) and (8) of this section, all other property or rights which, immediately before that day, were vested in the council of a London borough or in the Common Council for the purposes of such light signals, and all liabilities incurred by the council of any London borough or the Common Council for such purposes and not discharged before that date.

(7) There shall not be transferred to the Council by virtue of subsection (6) of this section any right or liability in respect of work done, services rendered, goods (including gas and electricity) supplied or money due for payment before the appointed day aforesaid.

(8) The Council and the other authority concerned may make agreements with respect to the transfer of property, rights and liabilities under subsection (6) of this section, including agreements for defining the property, rights and liabilities transferred, and for the transfer or retention of property, rights or liabilities, held or incurred partly for the purposes of such light signals as are mentioned in that subsection and partly for other purposes ; and any dispute between the Council and that other authority as to the property, rights or liabilities transferred shall be determined by the Minister.

(9) Nothing in this section shall cause the Council to be treated for the purposes of the [1950 c. 39.] Public Utilities Street Works Act 1950 as the highway authority for any highway for which they would not be the highway authority apart from this section.