Highway maintenance—exploring the decision in Crawley v Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council

Table of contents

• Original news
• What was the background to the case?
• What issues were before the Court of Appeal?
• What were the parties’ main arguments?
• What did the court decide?
• To what extent is the judgment helpful in clarifying the law in this area?
• What practical lessons can highway lawyers take away from the case?

Article summary

Local Government analysis: A local highway authority’s system of inspecting road defects only on the next working day after they had been reported was found by the Court of Appeal to be not adequate to give it a statutory defence to a personal injury claim. James Goudie QC, of 11KBW, considers the court’s decision in Crawley v Barnsley MBC.