We are not responsible for all roads in the borough, a number of roads may be owned privately, or may fall within the responsibility of another agency.
For example, Transport for London is responsible for the trunk roads in the borough: the A4, A316, A312, etc.
Road adoption is a term used to describe the council taking ownership of a private road. A private road is one which is not maintained at public expense. This means that the council, as a highway authority, is under no obligation to carry out repairs or cleansing to the street, even though it could be a public right of way to which highway and traffic law can be applied.
New roads that have been constructed in accordance with our guidelines are normally adopted by way of an agreement between the developer and ourselves.
Existing roads will not normally be adopted unless they are brought up to current standards by the owners of the road. It may for example be unpaved, without kerbs, footways, surface water sewers, gullies and lighting or any of these features, and its surface is probably in a bad condition.
We may resolve to raise the standard of a private street by providing any or all of the missing features or by improving the standard of any existing features. This procedure enables us on completion of necessary remedial works to adopt the street as a highway maintainable at public expense.
If you want to know whether a road has been adopted by the council, contact us or or view our map, see below.
