Road and street adoption

An adopted road is a road that is maintained at public expense by the highway authority. For Hastings this is East Sussex County Council Highways.

All adopted roads are regularly inspected and maintained. As well as repairs to the surface, other works include:

• grass cutting
• tree pruning
• weed killing
• gulley cleaning
• renewal of road markings

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. You can search for rights of way in East Sussex on the East Sussex County Council website.

Private Roads and Streets

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.

How does a road become adopted?

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:

• the third party proposing adoption has ownership rights
• it is suitably built
• it meets design standards, eg road layout and alignment
• it is in good repair with no defects
• the drains are big enough and working properly
• the streetlights meets necessary standards

Adopted and Unadopted Roads and Streets in Hastings and St Leonards

• Adopted and Unadopted Roads and Streets in Hastings and St Leonards (.pdf 151KB)