connecting with the network

Here's the situation: You're building a property development and you want to build an access road from the public highway. So how do you go about doing it?

The hierarchy of roads in the United Kingdom has been set in such a way that it is very difficult to get direct access from a motorway or major trunk road. The chances of gaining permission to build an access onto a road increase as the road decreases in importance. Government policy has been set to state that any new access points on a motorway shall only be permitted for high quality rural trunk roads, maintenance areas, motorway service areas and other major transport facilities, such as an airport. And building an access point is discouraged if the road concerned is a primary route, although the chances of being granted permission are better.

Anyway, the process of establishing what needs to be done for gaining access to a road is rather simple. To start with, a Transport Assessment needs to be conducted, which will establish how many vehicles will be accessing the development and how many extra vehicles will be using neighbouring local roads. This is regularly done by using existing statistics for similar developments elsewhere in the country. For example, if the development consists of a supermarket, then you'd look at the statistics for similar developments in similar locations.

Following that, the next task is to work out if the additional traffic will increase congestion at nearby junctions. If they are likely to do so, then proposals need to be made that ensure congestion does not increase, both at the time of opening and 15 years down the line. The local authority would need to be included in the discussions to ensure they are happy with the plans.

These predicted flows are also used to identify what type of junction is needed - would a Give Way sign be enough, or will traffic lights or a roundabout need to be installed? Or is the development so big that you need to build a free-flowing junction from an adjacent motorway? Either way, once the outline plans have been agreed, then a planning application needs to me made and approved - usually on the basis that a legal agreement needs to be made with the local authority stipulating that the developer will provide the necessary improvements.

There are a number of different legal agreements that can be used, dependent on the size of the project. Before permission is granted, the local authority can request at least one of these requirements are met, but on the other hand, they may say that all three agreements have to be met.

The first is under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act. This deals with "planning gain" and enables a planning authority to require a developer to provide facilities to the local community in order to mitigate the impact of the development. One example of this is in South Manchester, where Tesco were granted planning permission as long as they built a new health centre. However, the improvements normally relate to public transport schemes or local road improvement projects.

The other agreement that is commonly used is under Section 278 of the Highways Act. This stipulates that a Highway Authority is permitted to enter into an agreement with the developer to make changes to the existing highway network, such as providing improvements to the local highway network away from the development site, as well as at the development access point.

A third agreement, under Section 38 of the Highways Act allows a developer to build a new road to adoptable standards, with responsibility eventually being transferred to the local authority. This is the agreement commonly used for the construction of a new housing estate.

Once the required agreements have been decided upon, he developer can proceed with the work. In cases where the developer appoints their own contractor, the local authority will supervise the work to ensure that the road is built to the acceptable standards. Once the work complete, the developer will maintain the work for a year, and then the road is finally handed over to the local authority.