Highways and pavement obstructions
Report a highways obstruction...
What is an 'obstruction'?
Streetworks, roadworks, skips, scaffolds, hoardings, advertising boards and building materials that block the pavement are all considered to be causing an obstruction to pedestrians.
It is an offence to obstruct the free passage of the highway. (Section 137 Highways Act 1980)
Please note: Obstruction by a motor vehicle (parking on a footway etc) is dealt with by the Police. The council has no jurisdiction over this type of offence.
Obstructions are objects which have been unlawfully placed on or which overhang the highway. Such obstructions are given by examples below:
- Builders' skips
- Scaffolding/hoardings
- Builders materials
- Temporary works including traffic lights
- Overhanging tree branches, hedges
- Mud/Debris on the road
- Mixing concrete/mortar on the highway
- Unauthorised vendors/traders
- Encroachment of highway boundaries
- Discharge of water onto the highway
- Blocking "Rights of Way"
- Plants and bushes
- Illegal signs
- Caravans and Trailers (not attached to a vehicle)
Encroachments are where ownership of areas of the highway has been unlawfully assumed.
If a person without lawful authority or excuse in any way wilfully obstructs the free passage along a highway, they are guilty of an offence. As Highway Authority we have certain powers to deal with those types of obstruction listed above. Different types of offence have different lengths of Notice period. You will usually be advised what timescale is likely after you have registered the complaint.
With regards to the obstruction of the highway by a vehicle the Police have powers to deal with this offence by means of fixed penalty ticket procedures. However, they will prioritise such complaints in line with workload.
