Powers to adopt
The Highways Act 1980 (HiA 1980) gives highway authorities the power to adopt new highways by agreement, places a duty on highway authorities to maintain adopted highways at public expense and provides for payment to highway authorities for highway works and their maintenance, provided the authority is satisfied that it will be of benefit to the public.
Section 38 agreement
Adoption under HiA 1980, s 38 is a common way of creating new highways that are maintainable at the public expense. The developer must construct streets to an agreed standard, having secured technical approval of the highway authority to the designs. This process takes place in accordance with a legal agreement between the developer and the highway authority entered into under HiA 1980, s 38, known as a section 38 agreement. The section 38 agreement sets out the obligations of the developer to construct the streets and to maintain them for a set period once completed (normally 12 months). Following the satisfactory discharge of these obligations, and expiry of the initial maintenance period, the new streets are automatically dedicated
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