We carry out regular safety inspections of the highway network to find defects. When we find them, we try to fix them or make it safe within an appropriate timescale.
Defects can occur at any time and it would be impossible to repair them as soon as they appear.
Most inspections are carried out either:
- from a slow moving vehicle
- as a footway inspection (a mix of driven and walked inspections)
We don't routinely inspect unsurfaced roads (green lanes), because they're used by:
- limited vehicular traffic
- equestrians
- pedestrians
Budgets for the maintenance of low-use routes are limited. We complete inspection and some maintenance following reports from the public.
Our role as a Highway Authority
We have to fulfil a number of statutory duties in our role as Highway Authority for these roads. Many of these are contained in the Highways Act 1980.