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PART XIVMiscellaneous and Supplementary Provisions

Interpretation

328Meaning of " highway "

(1)In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires, " highway " means the whole or a part of a highway other than a ferry or waterway.

(2)Where a highway passes over a bridge or through a tunnel, that bridge or tunnel is to be taken for the purposes of this Act to be a part of the highway.

(3)In this Act, " highway maintainable at the public expense " and any other expression defined by reference to a highway is to be construed in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this section.

329Further provision as to interpretation

(1)In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires—

(2)A highway at the side of a river, canal or other inland navigation is not excluded from the definition in subsection (1) above of either " bridleway " or " footpath ", by reason only that the public have a right to use the highway for purposes of navigation, if the highway would fall within that definition if the public had no such right thereover.

(3)In a case where two or more parishes are grouped under a common parish council, references in this Act to a parish are to be construed as references to those parishes.

(4)Any reference in this Act to property of railway undertakers, canal undertakers, inland navigation undertakers, dock undertakers, harbour undertakers or pier undertakers is, where the undertakers are a body to which this subsection applies, to be taken as a reference to property of that body held or used by them wholly or mainly for the purposes of so much of their undertaking as consists of the carrying on of a railway undertaking or, as the case may be, of a canal undertaking, an inland navigation undertaking, a dock undertaking, a harbour undertaking or a pier undertaking.

This subsection applies to the following bodies, namely, the British Railways Board, the British Transport Docks Board, the British Waterways Board, the London Transport Executive, the National Freight Corporation (as far as included in this subsection by paragraph 15(b) of Schedule 23 to this Act) or any wholly-owned subsidiary (within the meaning of the [1968 c. 73.] Transport Act 1968) or joint subsidiary (within the meaning of section 51(5) of that Act) of any of those bodies.

(5)In relation to that part of the road constructed by the Minister of Transport along the line described in Schedule 1 to the [S.R. & O. 1947/1562.] North of Almondsbury—South of Haysgate Trunk Road Order 1947 and referred to in that Order as " the new road " which lies to the east of the most easterly point before reaching the River Wye at which eastbound traffic of Classes I and II (as specified in Schedule 4 to this Act) can leave that road by another special road, the functions of the Minister under this Act shall be exercisable by the Minister of Transport and not by the Secretary of State.

330Construction of certain enactments relating to execution of works by statutory undertakers

(1)Where by any enactment empowering statutory undertakers to execute works under, in, upon, over, along or across a highway the undertakers are thereby required—

(a)to give notice to, or obtain the consent or approval of, a council,

(b)to carry out the works under the superintendence of a council,

(c)to reinstate the highway to the satisfaction of a council, or

(d)to do anything in relation to a road for which a county council are the highway authority (whether so described or described as a " county road "),

any such requirement, and any provision of the enactment empowering the council to act in default of the undertakers or otherwise to enforce any such requirement, has effect, in relation to a trunk road, with the substitution, for references to the council, of references to the Minister and, for references to a road for which a county council are the highway authority (or a county road), of references to a trunk road.

(2)Notwithstanding the provisions of any enactment as to the determination of disputes arising between statutory undertakers and a council in connection with the execution of any such works, any such dispute arising in the case of a trunk road between statutory undertakers and the Minister shall be determined by a single arbitrator appointed, in default of agreement between the parties concerned, by the President of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

(3)Nothing in this section affects Part I of the [1950 c. 39.] Public Utilities Street Works Act 1950.

331References to functions of council as respects any highway

Except where this Act otherwise requires, any enactment or document relating to the functions of a council as respects any highway is, in relation to functions not exercisable in the case of a trunk road by the Minister, to be construed as if references therein to highways included references to trunk roads.

332Widening of carriageway not to cease to be improvement by reason of diminution etc. of footway

For the purposes of this Act and of any other enactment relating to highways, the widening of the carriageway of a highway is not to be treated as being otherwise than an improvement by reason only of the fact that it involves diminution or removal of a footway thereon.