West Lothian Council delivers

Scheme for the making up of private roads to adoptable standards

 

SCHEME FOR THE MAKING UP OF PRIVATE ROADS TO ADOPTABLE STANDARDS

The Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 provides that the responsibility for the maintenance of a private road lies with the owner of land or property fronting onto the road. The road does not become a public road maintainable at public expense until it has been brought up to a standard of construction and alignment that is acceptable to the Council as Roads Authority and has been formally adopted as such. The responsibility under the Act for making the road up to an acceptable standard lies with the frontagers.

The Council is not required to keep records of private roads but are aware that there are a number of such roads that have not been maintained adequately over the years and are now in a state of considerable disrepair. The Council recognised this issue and in 1999 introduced the Scheme for the Making Up of Private Roads to Adoptable Standards that enabled frontagers on private roads to apply for grant assistance to help fund the upgrade of the private road.

The scheme takes into account a number of factors in deciding the level of grant that will be allocated to a specific private road. The maximum level of grant assistance available from the Council is the lesser of (a) 50% of the total cost, (b) £1,500 per frontager or (c) 7.5% of the total cost per frontager. Full details of the scheme and the application forms can be downloaded below.

The Transportation Development Planning team are responsible for the administration of the scheme. Any person(s) interested in the scheme should contact the team for a pre-application discussion and, if appropriate, a site visit. The team will advise on whether or not the private road qualifies under the terms of the scheme, give an estimate of the costs required to upgrade the road to an acceptable standard and details of the level of grant which would be applied.

The scheme does not cover all private roads and the following exclusions apply :-

1. Private roads having a single frontager/landlord such as farm access roads or estate roads.
2. Private roads which are either subject of a Road Construction Consent or have been constructed since 1985.
3. Private roads where a contribution would reduce an obligation of a developer to provide and/or maintain the road.
4. Private roads serving two or less dwellings.