We are responsible for many, but not all, roads in the borough. Some roads are owned privately, while others fall within the responsibility of another agency. For example, Transport for London is responsible for the trunk roads in the borough, such as the A4, A316 and A312.
You can look up the roads we are responsible for on our map:
Road adoption is a term used to describe the council taking ownership of a road. This might happen because the road either:
- is new
- was a private road
New roads
New or existing roads may be considered for adoption as highway to be maintained by the council. It needs to be clearly demonstrated that there is public benefit in us adopting the road. For example, there would have to be wider benefit to those living, working or studying in the borough than just residents of housing served by the road.
New roads are normally adopted by way of an agreement between us and the developer.
The new road will have been constructed in accordance with our guidelines.
Private roads
A private road is one which is not maintained at public expense. This means that we, as a highway authority, are under no obligation to carry out repairs or clean the road, even though it could be a public right of way to which highway and traffic law can be applied.
A private road first needs to be considered as appropriate for adopton in principle. It can then be further considered for adoption if it is brought up to current standards by the owners of the road. It may, for example, be:
- unpaved
- without kerbs, footways, surface water sewers, gullies or lighting
- in bad condition
Alternatively, a payment may be made to the council for us to undertake these works prior to adoption as public highway. We would also require a separate payment to cover the costs of future maintenance, ensuring there is no cost to the council.
The required standard for a road we are to maintain is set out in our street scene design guide (Hounslow Highways website).
