The Town and Country Planning (Construction and Improvement of Private Streets) Regulations 1951

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Section 48 of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1947, enables land which is defined in a development plan as land for a proposed road or road widening (including the road it is proposed to widen) to be declared to be a private street after acquisition by the appropriate council. This will be the council of a county borough, urban district, or (as to rural districts and county roads) county, and, in London, the Common Council of the City of London or a metropolitan borough council. In relation to land thus declared to be a private street the relevant private street works code (the Private Street Works Act, 1892, Sections 150 and 151 of the Public Health Act, 1875, or comparable legislation) is to have effect subject to regulations made under the Act. These Regulations prescribe adaptations and modifications to be made in the relevant private street works code in such cases. The code applicable in any particular case, modified where necessary by Regulation 4, will enable the appropriate council to execute street works and recover expenses from the owners of adjoining lands. Regulation 5 limits the aggregate amount chargeable on adjoining owners to the “standard amount” which could have been so charged in respect of street works executed in the course of any operation of construction or widening carried out to byelaw or similar standards, and requires that any estimate of the total cost of works, which must be published under the code, shall be accompanied by an estimate of the standard amount or by a certificate that the estimated cost does not exceed it. Regulation 9 adds to any grounds of objection specified in the code the ground that the sum of expenses charged on owners exceeds the standard amount. Regulation 6 defers the recovery of apportioned expenses in certain circumstances. Regulation 7 empowers the recovery of expenses incurred in the construction of sewers before the land is declared to be a private street. Regulation 8 gives a power of entry on neighbouring land for the purpose of executing street works. Regulation 10 provides that the street, when made up or widened, shall become a highway repairable by the inhabitants at large, and requires notice of the fact to be posted.

The Regulations are of general application but can be superseded in any particular district by special regulations made under subsection (7) of Section 48.