Adopted roads

What is an adopted road?

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. In Eastbourne and Hastings, highway maintenance is carried out by the Borough Council on our behalf.

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.

What is a private road?

Private roads are roads that have not been adopted by us. Maintenance of private roads 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

Private streets are different to private roads. They are roads which are not maintained by us, but may be used by the public. They are known as unadopted highways. For further information, please contact your local area highways office.

How does a road become adopted?

If a road is built by us, 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 we are asked to adopt a road, we have to make sure that:

• 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.

We may also need a financial contribution for any future maintenance.

Further information

To find out more about road adoption, contact the appropriate local area highways office.