This area contains the following information about Roads and Highways:
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An adopted road is a road that is maintained at public expense, usually by the highway authority. For most of East Sussex this is the County Council but in Hastings, we carry out the maintentance on behalf of East Sussex County Council.
All adopted roads are regularly inspected and maintained. As well as repairs to the surface, other works include:
Other highways, such as Public Rights of Way (PROW) are open to the public but are not inspected or maintained to the same level as roads and footpaths.
Private roads are roads that have not been adopted and the maintenance of them is the responsibility of the owner. This may be the residents of a road who each own the part in front of their house, or a third party, usually a developer.
Owners can restrict access to private roads, but all adopted roads are available for public use unless restrictions have been made by the highway authority.
Private streets are different to private roads in that they are roads that are not maintained by us, but may be used by the public. They are known as unadopted highways.
If a road is built the County Council, adoption is usually straightforward. If a road is built by a third party, eg the builder of a residential, commercial or industrial development, a legal agreement is made with us to make sure that the new highway is adopted into the overall network.
When the County Council is asked to adopt a road, the following conditions must be met:
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Although sometimes inconvenient for road users, major road works are essential to keep the highways network running safely and efficiently. Major repair works are carried out where the foundation structure of the road is so damaged that minor remedial works are no longer suitable or economically feasible.
East Sussex County Council allocates funding for major road works across the county by priority. Each year we submit a list of proposed repair schemes to the County Council, these are then assessed against set criteria and ranked. Only schemes at the top of the ranking qualify for funding.
Following road works, slab pavements are often replaced with black bitumous material (known as blacktop or tarmac) in line with East Sussex County Council policy. The cost of blacktop is approximately one quarter of the cost of slabs or brickwork, and it is more durable.
To check for road works proposed in your area see East Sussex County Council's road works page.
See the Highways Agency website for details of major road projects across the country.
We monitor the works carried out by the public utilities (gas, water, electric, telecoms and mobile phone operators) to ensure that all works take place with minimum disruption to members of the public.
Public utilities have a licence to carry out works on the highway to install, improve or repair their apparatus. Road works by utilities must, however, be reported to us. A charge is now made to any utility company that carries out prolonged road works that are not essential. Utilities contractors are required to repair the road to its original material, although temporary repairs in different materials are allowed for up to six months.
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All roads, footways, footpaths and cycle routes in Hastings are inspected regularly as part of a controlled routine. Inspections are carried out every month, every three months or every six months depending on how heavily the road or footpath is used. If a defect is reported to us, the area will usually be inspected within 24 hours.
Defects identified during inspections are repaired as soon as possible.
It may appear that some areas of highway are maintained to a higher standard than others. This may be the result of different sources of funding, for example highway improvements in Central St Leonards have been funded by Neighbourhood Renewal money, not from the Highways budget.
For more information about highways inspections, or to report a fault, please contact us.
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Most road spillages are dealt with by Street Cleaning. Where spillages are of a hazardous nature, the local police and fire service may also be involved in the incident and road closures may be required.
In the case of oil spillages, these incidents are usually dealt with by spreading sand over the affected area. To report an oil spillage on a public road, please contact us.
The tops of road gullies are cleaned regularly by our Street Cleaning team. The sump underneath the gulley grid is cleared approximately once a year. Parking can interfere with this process, so please help us by leaving gullies clear where signs are placed.
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If you wish to apply for a temporary road closure for events such as carnivals, parades, fun runs and street parties you will need to apply to us, please contact us for more information.
Any temporary road closure is coordinated and processed by the Highways Department. For all non-emergency road closures we require at least six weeks notice and a charge of approximately £800 is made to cover legal costs and a traffic notice to advertise the proposal.
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All bridges and highway structures are managed by the County Council; the only exception being retaining walls of less than one metre in height.
Please contact the East Sussex County Council Structure Team on 0845 6080193 or visit the East Sussex County Council website for more information.
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This page last updated: 22/10/2010