The Vision of the Community of Ceredigion, Expressed Through Its

Ceredigion County Council Highways, Property and Works Department County Hall, Market Street, Aberaeron SA46 0AT

Guidance

Managing Footway Obstructions

Huw T Morgan BSc, CEng, MICE Director of Highways, Property and Works ii Executive Summary

The Council has statutory duties as to the management of footway obstructions and has administrative systems in place to manage highway, utility and builders’ works that cause such obstruction.

This paper examines the legal and technical framework as to other works and uses that cause footway obstruction and recommends that the Council adopts the following policies and practices for an improved system of management of such obstructions to be put in place.

(1) It is the policy of the Council to ensure that all footway obstructions are lawful and where they are not to take steps to require the person responsible for the obstruction to make the obstruction lawful under this guidance or to remove it as appropriate.

(2) With regard to any highway referred to in Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980 it is the policy of the Council to consider granting permission upon the application by any person, for that person to –

(a) carry out works on, in or over that highway;

(b) place objects or structures on, in or over that highway for the purpose of enhancing its amenity or that of its immediate surroundings or providing a service to the public or a section of the public;

(d) provide, maintain and operate facilities for recreation or refreshment on that highway; and / or

(e) use objects or structures on that highway for the purposes of production of an income, providing information or advice, and / or advertising

(3) It is the policy of the Council that the minimum width of footway to be preserved from obstruction when granting permission under Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980 shall be determined by the Director of Highways, Property and Works according to the following guidance:

iii Within the Main Towns All Other and Larger Areas Settlements Footways in general 1800 mm 1600 mm Footways where close proximity 2000 mm 1800 mm of adjoining vehicular traffic is intimidating to pedestrians or where frequent high volumes of pedestrians merits extra width Footways where walking-about 3000 mm 2400 mm and looking-around make major contributions to the shopping, leisure or tourist experience

NB. For ‘Main Towns and Larger Settlements’ see Settlement Proposals Map of the Ceredigion Unitary Development Plan Proposed Modifications Version published on the internet at http://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/media/pdf/8/5/09_UDP_PM_Inde x_Proposals_Map.pdf and detailed Settlement Maps and Statements at http://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=3493

(4) All permissions shall be subject to a condition requiring the licensee to remove all or any of the permitted obstructions on request of the Council or any statutory undertaker or public utility within such time as prescribed in the request.

(5) All permissions shall be limited to a maximum of one calendar year from the date on which the permission was granted.

(6) Breach of any condition of permission shall be a determining factor in the consideration by the Council of any application for renewal of that permission.

(7) No permission granted under Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980 shall grant or be deemed to grant permission for sale or consumption of intoxicating liquor on a footway which is or lies within a designated public place within the meaning of Section 13 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001.

iv (8) All permitted movable objects shall be removed from the footway by the daily end time specified in the permission and shall not be replaced on the footway until the daily start time specified in the permission.

(9) All permitted tables, parasols, chairs, advertisements and other moveable objects shall be designed as to be safe and fit for purpose so as not to endanger users of them or passing pedestrian traffic or offend the visual amenities of the street, and shall be fixed or weighted as to prevent them from being blown by the wind from their permitted locations.

(10) Breach of planning control in relation to any object placed on a footway in pursuance of a permit granted under Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980 will invalidate the permit (a permit under Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980 does not constitute a planning permission, listed building consent, conservation area consent or advertisement consent under Planning legislation).

(11) Each applicant shall be charged a fee for the processing of the application. The fee shall be £25.00 per square metre of footway, rounded up to the nearest £25.00 increment. No application shall be processed unless accompanied by a cheque to the correct amount made out to ‘Ceredigion County Council’. No part of the fee shall be refundable in the event of the application to which it relates being refused by the Council or in the event of the Council requiring the licensee to remove all or any of the permitted obstructions within the currency of the permission to which it relates.

(12) Each applicant shall indemnify the Council against all actions, proceedings, claims, demands and liability which may at any time be taken, made or incurred in consequence of the presence or use of the object(s) to which the permission relates and for this purpose shall take out at his / her own expense a policy of insurance approved by the Council to such value per event as shall be determined by the Director of Highways, Property and Works and shall produce to the Council on request current receipts for premium payments and related confirmations of renewal of the policy.

(13) No statutory consent shall be sought by the Council from any other highway authority or a frontager in respect of any application under

v Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980 unless and until the Director of Highways, Property and Works is satisfied that the respective proposal satisfies all other policy requirements and that the applicant has agreed to reimburse all costs and expenses the Council incurs in seeking those consents, even if seeking those consents proves abortive.

(14) All permissions granted under Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980 in Ceredigion shall be granted subject to such conditions as may be deemed necessary by the Director of Highways, Property and Works of the Council.

(15) It shall be the practice of every department of the Council to consult with the Engineering Division of the Highways, Property and Works Department of the Council before exercising the Council’s powers under Section 115B (Provision, etc., of services and amenities by councils) or Section 115C (Provision of recreation and refreshment facilities by councils) of Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980.

vi List of Contents

Page 1 Introduction 1 The Statutory Position 3 The Common Law Position 5 Managing Obstructions 5 Highway Works 5 Utility Works 6 Building Works 7 Markets and Fairs and Street Trading 7 Public Amenities 7 Highway Inspection 10 Policy Development 10 Enforcement Policy 10 Permission under Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980 13 Recommendations 13 Ratification of inherited operational policies 14 Safeguarding standard minimum widths 16 Avoidance of fettering the Council’s powers 17 Encouraging responsible citizenship 17 Minimising clutter, danger and nuisance 18 Integration with Town and Country Planning 19 Fees and public liability insurance 20 Obtaining other statutory consents 20 Transparency, accountability and fairness 21 Streetscene management 21 Objects on Verges 22 Environmental Considerations 22 Placing of Refuse on Footways for Collection

vii

viii Introduction

1. Much has already been done at local, regional and national levels to encourage use of more environmentally-friendly modes of travel than the motor car, and one of the desired outcomes of the local community strategy, Ceredigion 2020, is to encourage more walking to create a healthier, safer, better maintained and more attractive environment, accessible to all.

2. At regional, national and international levels, increasing emphasis on improving the ‘streetscene’ and ‘public domain’ is improving cooperation and understanding between users and various interested professions and private and public sector organisations (Paving the Way: Commission for Architecture and Built Environment: http:/www.cabe.org.uk) and campaigns are being developed to secure removal of unnecessary street clutter (Place-check: Urban Design Alliance: http:/www.placecheck.info).

3. All this promotion is creating increased public demand for greater attention to be given to the provision, maintenance, improvement and better management of footways.

The Statutory Position

4. Section 130 of the Highways Act 1980 imposes duties on the Council to assert and protect the rights of the public to the use and enjoyment of highways for which they are the highway authority and prevent, as far as possible, their stopping up or obstruction. Ceredigion County Council is the highway authority for all highways in Ceredigion, apart from the trunk roads in the county.

5. It also empowers the Council to assert and protect the rights of the public to the use and enjoyment of any highway for which it is not the highway authority, and imposes a duty on them to prevent the stopping up or obstruction of such highways, as far as possible, if, in their opinion, such stopping up or obstruction would prejudice the interests of their area; so the Council also has duties and powers relating to the trunk roads.

6. The Highways Act does not define ‘interests’, but Sections 2 and 4 of the Local Government Act 2000 empower the Council to do anything they consider likely to promote or improve the sustainable development and economic, social or environmental well-being of their area, so these should be deemed legitimate ‘interests’ for the purposes of the Highways Act.

7. The Council has discretion whether to institute proceedings under Section 130 of the Highways Act 1980 and as to the form of proceedings they may think proper to bring, provided they do so in accordance with the policy and objectives of the Act. They have less discretion concerning obstructions about which they

1 receive representations from a town or community council in their area, as in such cases, they have no alternative but to take proceedings against those obstructions unless satisfied that the representations are incorrect.

8. Another aspect which fetters their discretion is that the Disability Discrimination Acts 1995 and 2005 require them to adopt a pro-active approach to meeting the needs of the disabled. So, the Council needs to have due regard that obstructions which may be tolerable by the able-bodied may be intolerable to disabled people, and we have an increasingly aging population who are more susceptible to trips and falls than younger people, and suffer greater injuries in the event of such trips and falls.

9. Section 130 of the Highways Act 1980 does not itself provide any specific means of enforcement against obstruction, but Part IX of the Act contains several provisions the Council may call upon.

10. In particular, Section 137 makes it an offence, punishable on conviction by a fine, for anyone to wilfully obstruct a highway without lawful authority or excuse.

11. Section 148 of the Highways Act 1980 makes it an offence, punishable by a fine, for any person, without lawful authority or excuse, to deposit anything whatsoever on a highway to the interruption of any user of the highway.

12. Section 149 of the Highways Act 1980 provides that, if anything is so deposited on a highway as to constitute a nuisance, the Council may by notice require the person who deposited it there to remove it forthwith; and, if that person fails to comply with the notice, the authority may make a complaint to a magistrates court for a removal and disposal order.

13. Much of Section 28 of the Town Police Clauses Act 1847 remains in force and lists some specific offences the Council may cite in proceedings.

14. If the Council has reasonable grounds for considering that anything unlawfully deposited on a highway constitutes a danger to highway users (including a danger caused by obstructing the view) and ought to be removed without the delay of giving notice or obtaining a removal and disposal order, they may remove it forthwith; and recover from the person by whom it was deposited any expenses reasonably incurred by them in so doing, or make a complaint to a magistrates court for a disposal order.

15. Under Section 30 of the Dyfed Act 1987, if the Council considers that an awning over a footway is dangerous or inconvenient to the public, they may, by notice require the owner or occupier of the premises to which the awning is appurtenant to carry out such work as may be necessary to remove the danger or inconvenience.

2 16. Section 150 of the Highways Act 1980 requires the Council to remove any obstruction of any highway in their jurisdiction, and, if they fail to do so, a magistrates' court may, on a complaint made by any person, by order require them to remove it within such period as the court considers reasonable having regard to the circumstances of the case. Section 143 empowers the Council to remove unlawful structures from highways.

17. Section 66 of the Highways Act 1980 makes it the duty of the Council to provide in or by the side of a highway maintainable at the public expense by them which consists of or comprises a made-up carriageway, a sufficient footway as part of the highway in any case where they consider it necessary or desirable for the safety or accommodation of pedestrians.

18. Under Section 108 of the Transport Act 2000, the Council has a duty to develop policies for promotion and encouragement of safe, integrated, efficient and economic transport facilities and services to, from and within their area and carry out their functions so as to implement those functions. The facilities and services referred to are specifically defined as being such as are required to meet the needs of persons living or working in the authority’s area, or visiting or travelling through that area, including, in particular, facilities and services for pedestrians.

The Common Law Position

19. In addition to the statutory provisions, the Council has common law duties and powers to prevent and abate highway obstructions: these are preserved by Section 333 of the Highways Act 1980.

20. At common law, obstruction of a highway without express statutory authority is a public nuisance and an indictable offence, punishable by a fine or imprisonment or both.

21. Not every physical obstruction of the highway will constitute a nuisance under common law, depending on the circumstances: different considerations apply depending on which type of interference is alleged.

22. A permanent obstruction erected in a highway without lawful authority or excuse is necessarily wrongful and constitutes a public nuisance at common law as it operates as a withdrawal of part of the highway from the public.

23. A temporary obstruction may or may not constitute a nuisance, according to the circumstances of the case: generally, such an obstruction is wrongful and constitutes a nuisance unless negligible in size, quantity and time, authorised by statute, or occasioned in a reasonable and lawful use of the highway

3 24. A private individual can maintain an action for wrongful obstruction, but must establish that he / she has suffered some particular, direct and substantial loss or injury beyond what is suffered by other members of the public affected by the nuisance. However, local authorities can, by virtue of Section 222 of the Local Government Act 1972, bring proceedings without such proof and this facility is reinforced by Subsection 130 (5) of the Highways Act 1980.

25. The common law of nuisance depends upon the balancing of competing interests and assessing whether one of those interests is unreasonably interfering with the other: in highway cases, the issue is whether there is an unreasonable interference with the lawful rights of the public to pass and repass and to have access to the highway.

26. So far as a temporary obstruction is concerned a plaintiff is not likely to succeed if the obstruction is reasonable in quantum and duration; and, it may be that, in deciding what is deemed reasonable, greater latitude would be allowed the adjoining owner by the courts than a person who is simply a highway user.

27. It also needs to be borne in mind that a highway may be dedicated subject to the existence of an obstruction. Furthermore, what may appear to be highway may be private forecourt as sometimes the two are indistinguishable in situ.

4 Managing Obstructions

28. The foregoing treatise of statutory and common law provisions show that this is a complex area and the law accepts that some latitude is tolerable. Some obstructions are so commonly occurring and reasonably necessary as to merit special provisions for authorising them by statute. These are considered below.

Highway Works

29. The Highways Act 1980 imposes a duty on all highway authorities to maintain all highways which are highways maintainable at the public expense for which they are the highway authority and defines the word ‘maintain’ as including repair.

30. It also empowers such authorities to carry out works of alteration or improvement of their highways and provide footways and lighting, and such raised paving, pillars, walls, rails or fences as they consider necessary to safeguard persons using the highway.

31. Also, the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 empowers them to erect traffic signs and install bollards and other obstructions in their highways to regulate the activities of traffic.

32. In exercising these duties and powers of maintenance, repair, alteration, improvement and regulation, temporary or permanent obstructions may be created, so the Council follows codes of practice to remain within the law and minimise any danger and disruption such obstructions may cause.

Utility Works

33. Part III of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 governs the exercise of the public utilities’ statutory powers to carry out works and install and maintain apparatus in, over, under, and across highways.

34. All such works which involve breaking open a street are under the same field of control: persons other than public utilities may be granted licences by the street authority to break open the street but must follow the same procedures as public utilities acting within their own specific statutory powers.

35. The procedures entail the undertaker or licensee notifying the street authority in advance of the works so that all necessary consultations may be carried out.

5 36. Section 59 of that Act imposes a duty on the street authority to coordinate such works with the object of minimising disruption of the highway and Section 60 imposes a corresponding duty on the undertakers of such works to cooperate in this aim with the street authority.

37. Emergency works, defined by the Act as works to abate circumstances that are believed to be likely to cause danger to persons or property, are exempt from the prior notification procedure, but the undertaker remains subject to the requirements to cooperate with the highway authority in minimising disruption of the highway.

Building Works

38. The law also recognises the needs of property owners to occasionally obstruct highways in the process of carrying out building or repair work on their property.

39. Sections 139 and 140 of the Highways Act 1980 provide means for control and removal of builders’ skips. It is unlawful for any builder’s skip to be deposited on a highway without the permission of the highway authority, and the permission may be granted subject to such conditions as the authority sees fit. The fee that the Council charges for administering such applications is currently £25.00 per month.

40. Section 169 of the Act makes it an offence for any person, in connection with building or demolition operations or the alteration, repair, maintenance or cleaning of any building, to erect or retain on or over a highway any scaffolding or other structure which obstructs the highway without a licence from the highway authority. The licence may contain such terms as the authority sees fit. It is an offence to erect or retain scaffolding or a structure on or over the highway in contravention of those terms. The fee that the Council charges for administering such applications is currently £50.00 per month.

41. Section 172 requires any person proposing to erect or take down a building in a street or alter or repair the outside of such a building, to notify the Council before starting the works and to erect a close boarded hoarding or fence to the Council’s satisfaction so as to separate the building from the street unless the Council consider it unnecessary; and, if the Council so require, to make and maintain for such time as the Council require, a convenient covered platform and handrail to serve as a footway for pedestrians outside the hoarding or fence; and sufficiently light the hoarding or fence and any such platform and handrail during the hours of darkness. The fee that the Council charges for the licence/permit for the placing of the hoarding, fence, platform, handrail and/or lighting in the highway is £30 per month.

6 42. Section 171 enables the authority to give consent for the temporary deposit of building materials, rubbish or other objects in the street or the making of a temporary excavation in it, subject to such conditions as it sees fit; and to impose directions as to erection and maintenance of temporary traffic signs, signals, etc.

Markets and Fairs and Street Trading

43. The Council honours customs and traditions developed by former local authorities of the area, by licensing markets and fairs held on various main streets in the county.

44. The Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 permits a council to designate footways in its area on which street trading is controlled by express or general consent or prohibited, but Ceredigion County Council has not adopted these provisions.

Public Amenities

45. Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980 enables local authorities to carry out works and place objects or structures on, in or over footways for a variety of amenity and other purposes, subject to meeting certain conditions; and to grant other persons permission to do so also. These are discussed in greater detail from paragraph 61 onwards.

46. This provision of the Act makes it clear that Parliament recognises that some obstructions or encroachments by business people in front of their shops and even elsewhere, to display goods, to advertise or to provide litter bins, and open air cafes with tables and chairs, etc., can be beneficial public amenities, provided they are properly licensed by the local authority.

Highway Inspection

47. The law governing the liability of highway authorities provides a special defence against actions being brought against them for breach of their statutory duty of highway maintenance, namely Section 58 of the Highways Act 1980, if they can prove that they had taken such care as in all the circumstances was reasonably required to ensure the part of the highway to which the action relates was not dangerous to traffic.

48. Meeting this burden of proof involves the authority in undertaking inspections of all highways in its jurisdiction at frequencies depending on the character of the highway and the traffic which can reasonably be expected to use

7 them; and taking appropriate action in response to defects and encroachments they discover in the course of those inspections.

49. The Council’s Code of Practice for Inspection of Roads says –

Highway maintenance also comprises regulation and enforcement of activities on or affecting the highways. The Inspection process should be aware of the following and records kept of any interference with free flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic:

1. Encroachment on the highway 2. Illegal and unauthorised signs 3. Licensing and inspecting skips 4. Licensing and inspecting scaffolding 5. Licensing temporary closures 6. Construction of vehicle crossings

Any form of encroachment on to a highway should be reported as a matter of urgency.

50. Persistent inaction against an encroachment could lead to a longer-term difficulty in securing its abatement, as the inaction could be misconstrued that the way was dedicated subject to such an impediment. This could result in both the public and the highway authority being deprived of their common and statutory rights in relation to that portion of highway, and failure of the highway authority to secure its abatement may be regarded as a breach of statutory duty. So, in the Council’s Code of Practice, the word ‘encroachment’ is meant in the sense of any object unlawfully placed in a highway which by occupying that portion of highway prevents the public from using it as highway.

51. The recently published revised national code of practice for highway inspections, Well Maintained Highways (http:/www.roadscodes.org) says –

Securing continuous improvement in the safety and serviceability of footways, in particular network integrity, will be a necessary component for encouraging walking as an alternative to the car, particularly for journeys of up to three miles in urban areas. It will be important for maintenance strategy positively to address this.

It will also be important in determining priorities for footway maintenance to ensure that opportunities are taken to aid social inclusion, particularly improving accessibility for older and disabled people and also the use of prams and pushchairs.

52. An encroachment may cause a pedestrian to step off a footway into a carriageway into the path of a vehicle and in extreme cases may thereby cause

8 death or serious injury. Highway risk and liability claims, the UK Roads Board’s Practical Guide to Appendix C of the UK Code of Practice Well Maintained Highways, says that actions of corporate manslaughter against Highway Authorities will be considered in accordance with The Road Death Investigation Manual Version 2, published by the Association of Chief Police Officers, viz., When a collision has occurred and highway involvement is alleged then the highway authority should be able to show that it took reasonable measures to ensure that the safety of the road user was not compromised. It sets out the following questions that such an investigation would need to answer –

- Were the policies, procedures and practices developed by the highway authority reasonable and well considered, when taking into account statutory duties, powers, and national and local best practice?

- Were the policies, procedures and practices developed by the highway authority consistently implemented?

- Did the highway authority act reasonably in response to all of the pertinent information it had available?

9 Policy Development

Enforcement Policy

53. Having regard to the requirements of the law, it was the departmental strategy of Ceredigion County Council’s highway predecessor, Dyfed County Council, to abate, to the best of its ability and by the most expedient and least expensive means, every unlawful highway obstruction brought to its attention.

54. Enforcement was effected by seeking in the first instance to abate the obstruction amicably, by persuading the offender to remove it. Where this failed, stronger measures were taken, usually involving removal of the obstruction by the organisation’s workforce to one of its depots and recovering the expenses of so doing from the offender as a civil debt. In many instances, being informed of that prospect was sufficient to persuade the offender to remove the obstruction.

55. The borough and district councils of Dyfed, including Ceredigion District Council, were agent highways authorities to Dyfed County Council and therefore had dispensation to exercise Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980 in relation to amenities they wished to provide on highways in their jurisdiction.

56. Additionally, they expressed an interest in exercising the provision of granting permissions for others to do likewise, where it was deemed expedient and economic.

57. On the creation of Ceredigion County Council, its Highways, Property and Works Department was directed to maintain consistency with the highway policies of Dyfed County Council and Ceredigion District Council unless and until directed otherwise.

58. Consequently, the systems established for highway inspection, for licensing and inspection of skips and scaffolding, and for the management of public utilities works, are the same as existed under Dyfed County Council and Ceredigion District Council, but combined in a unitary authority structure.

Permission under Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980

59. Consideration has also been given to granting permissions under Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980, but requires policy guidance to enable it to progress.

60. Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980 empowers the council, subject to certain provisos being met, to grant permission to any person to –

 carry out works on, in or over a footway;

10  place objects or structures on, in or over a footway for the purposes of enhancing its amenity or that of its immediate surroundings or of providing a service to the public or a section of the public;

 maintain such works, objects or structures;

 provide, maintain and operate facilities for recreation or refreshment on a footway; and / or

 use objects or structures on a footway for the purposes of production of an income, providing a centre for advice or information, and/or advertising.

61. The provisos include putting up notices in the street giving details of the proposal and specifying the period during which representations may be made to the Council regarding the proposals, serving copies of the notices on owner(s) and occupier(s) of premises appearing to the Council to be likely to be affected by the proposal, and, where necessary, consulting other authorities on the proposal.

62. The following table lists footway obstructions often seen in Ceredigion that may be considered under these provisions.

Items Justification Goods displayed by shopkeepers on Enhancing amenity of highway and / or pavement in front of shops immediate surroundings Flower/shrub pots/troughs displayed on Enhancing amenity of highway and / or pavements immediate surroundings Access ramps to shops, offices, etc. Enhancing amenity of highway and / or immediate surroundings Statues / sculptures Enhancing amenity of highway and / or immediate surroundings Holiday and carnival decorations Enhancing amenity of highway and / or immediate surroundings Tables / seating outside pubs / cafes / Facilities for refreshment / deriving an restaurants income Advertising boards and frames Purpose of advertising / deriving an income Special events (charity collections and Enhancing amenity of highway / associated stalls/objects) deriving an income

63. The fact that such items may be justified by reference to expressions used in Part VIIA of the Act does not mean that they are automatically acceptable, otherwise the law would not have provided for the permit system to be managed by the local authority.

11 64. The Council has a duty under the Local Government Act 2000 to encourage and promote the sustainable development and social, economic and environmental well-being of its area, including social inclusion and sustainable accessibility. Streetscene management is an essential component of this function.

65. The courts have increasingly accepted that some obstructions on footways are acceptable, provided they remain subordinate to the primary purpose for which highways exist.

66. Free flow and safety of traffic are the primary criteria by which such obstructions are judged, so each obstruction for which permission is sought must be subjected to a risk assessment as to the impact it is likely to have on the free flow and safety of traffic, including pedestrian as well as vehicular traffic.

12 Recommendations

Ratification of inherited operational policies

67. In view of the foregoing, and as a starting point for the development of the policies that are necessary to put a system in place for managing footway obstructions under Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980, it is recommended that the Council confirms the two following operational policies inherited from its predecessors –

(a) carry out works on, in or over that highway;

(b) place objects or structures on, in or over that highway for the purposes of enhancing its amenity or that of its immediate surroundings or providing a service to the public or a section of the public;

(d) provide, maintain and operate facilities for recreation or refreshment on that highway; and / or

(e) use objects or structures on that highway for the purposes of production of an income, providing information or advice, and / or advertising

13 Safeguarding standard minimum widths

68. No obstruction should be granted which would force pedestrians to deviate off a footway on to an adjoining carriageway. A sufficient width needs to be preserved free of obstruction between the permitted obstruction and the carriageway. Equally, where an obstruction is granted close to the carriageway with space for pedestrians to pass behind it rather than in front, the preserved width behind the obstruction needs to be sufficient to enable pedestrians to pass with ease. In considering the widths necessary to satisfy these requirements, the proximity of other obstructions must also to be taken into account, such as traffic signs, pedestrian railings, lamp-posts, bus-shelters, litter-bins, trees, planters, etc, and sufficient width should be preserved between these and the permitted obstruction to enable pedestrians to pass between them with ease.

69. Published technical advice on what amounts to sufficient width is complex and often confusing. This is because central government advice is necessarily broad. For example, advice relating to ‘urban areas’ may be construed in relation to small rural market towns, villages and more modest settlements as well as to major cities and their surrounding conurbations, and advice relating to ‘rural areas’ may be construed as applying to low-populated upland areas as well as more highly-populated lowland ones. Such universalities tend towards standardisation which is often considered inappropriate having regard to the character of a particular locality and the needs of its traffic, so it has been a long- held principle of highway law and practice that local highway authorities may adopt their own standards in relation to highways that are highways maintainable at public expense by them.

70. During the incumbency of Dyfed County Council and Ceredigion District Council, considerable operational experience was gained in safeguarding sufficient widths from obstructions proposed by non-highway authorities under statutory provisions other than Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980, such as telephone kiosks, pillar boxes, bus shelters, public benches and notice boards, by interpreting government advice sensitively and sensibly in relation the character of the locality and the needs of its traffic.

71. None of those installations have given rise to complaint, so a table of standard minimum widths has been developed from that experience, which the present Council is recommended to adopt for management of footway obstructions under Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980 in the interests of consistency. These widths have withstood the test of time and accommodate all the categories of disability set out in the most recently published government advice on inclusive mobility, so are fully Disability Discrimination Act compliant.

72. Since the creation of Ceredigion County Council, the community has indicated through various public / stakeholder participation processes a wish that ‘urban’ and ‘suburban’ highway design standards should be avoided in ‘small

14 settlements and rural areas’ wherever possible to safeguard ‘the character of Ceredigion’s rural settlements and countryside’, so the table has been designed to meet this requirement.

73. It is therefore recommended that the Council adopts the following policy -

Within the Main Towns All Other and Larger Areas Settlements Footways in general 1800 mm 1600 mm Footways where close 2000 mm 1800 mm proximity of adjoining vehicular traffic is intimidating to pedestrians or where frequent high volumes of pedestrians merits extra width Footways where walking- 3000 mm 2400 mm about and looking-around make major contributions to the shopping, leisure or tourist experience

NB. For ‘Main Towns and Larger Settlements’ see Settlement Proposals Map of the Ceredigion Unitary Development Plan Proposed Modifications Version published on the internet at http://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/media/pdf/8/5/09_UDP_PM_I ndex_Proposals_Map.pdf and detailed Settlement Maps and Statements at http://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=3493

15 N.B. In safeguarding the desire lines of pedestrian traffic movement it is essential to bear in mind that prams and wheelchairs are not as manoeuvrable as an able- bodied person, so the geometric paths of such vehicles must be taken into account. Their paths when negotiating turns are wider than when travelling in a straight line, so, where a desire line is curved to negotiate around objects, the minimum safeguarded width in the curve will need to be increased accordingly.

74. There may be cases where the lack of available width may be overcome by an applicant proposing a widening of the footway by narrowing the adjoining carriageway by agreement with the Council under Section 278 of the Highways Act 1980. The design and construction of such works would normally be undertaken by the Council at the applicant’s expense. In exceptional cases, the Council may allow the applicant to employ his own designer and contractor to undertake these respective tasks to the Council’s satisfaction. In all cases, the applicant would be required to pay the Council’s legal and technical fees for administering the agreement.

Avoidance of fettering the Council’s powers

75. So that the Council does not fetter its ability to fulfil its statutory duties in relation to an unexpected occurrence during the currency of the permission, it is recommended that the Council adopts the following policy –

76. In order that the Council is not impeded from carrying out highway or traffic management works necessitated by changing patterns of development and traffic it is recommended that the Council adopts the following policy –

(5) All permissions shall be limited to a maximum of one calendar year from the date on which the permission was granted.

16 Encouraging responsible citizenship

77. In order to encourage successful applicants to adopt responsible attitudes towards the utility to them of the Council operating Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980 for their benefit, it is recommended the Council adopts the following policy –

(6) Complaints of clutter, litter, danger or nuisance arising from the presence or use of the object(s) shall be a determining factor in the consideration by the Council of any application for renewal of that permission.

78. In order that the granting of permission should not circumvent provisions adopted by the local community safety partnership, it is recommended that the Council adopts the following policy –

Minimising clutter, litter, danger and nuisance

79. As footways should not be obstructed for any longer than is absolutely necessary, it is recommended that the Council adopts the following policy –

(8) All permitted movable objects shall be removed from the footway by the daily end time specified in the permission and shall not be replaced on the footway until the daily start time specified in the permission.

17 80. In order that goods, parasols, tables, chairs, advertisements or other movable objects permitted to be placed on footways should not endanger users of them or passing pedestrian traffic or offend visual amenities or be susceptible to being blown about by the wind, it is recommended that the Council adopts the following policy –

Integration with Town and Country Planning

81. So that all objects permitted to be erected or placed on a footway have any requisite planning permission, listed building consent, conservation area consent and / or advertisement consent under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, it is recommended that the Council adopts the following policy –

18 Fees and public liability insurance

82. In order that applicants reimburse a reasonable element of the cost to the Council of administering their applications under Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980 it is recommended that the Council adopts the following policy –

83. To ensure that an applicant has and maintains adequate public liability insurance for the duration of the permission it is recommended that the Council adopts the following policy –

19 Obtaining other statutory consents

84. The Council is barred from granting permission under Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980 in relation to any footway for which they are not the highway authority (e.g., trunk road footways) without obtaining the consent of that footway’s highway authority. It is also barred from granting permission under Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980 in certain case without the consent of the frontager. Seeking such consents will entail additional expense for the Council. It is accordingly recommended that the Council adopts the following policy –

(13) No statutory consent shall be sought by the Council from any other highway authority or a frontager in respect of any application under Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980 unless and until the Director of Highways, Property and Works is satisfied that the respective proposal satisfies all other Council requirements and that the applicant will reimburse all the costs and expenses the Council incurs in seeking those consents, even if seeking those consents proves abortive.

Transparency, accountability and fairness

85. To ensure transparency, accountability and fairness of the system, it is recommended that the Council adopts the following policy –

20 86. To ensure that the council’s amenity uses of footways shall be subject to the same considerations as apply to applicants under Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980, it is recommended that the Council adopts the following policy –

(15) It shall be the practice of every division of the Council to consult with the Engineering Division of the Highways, Property and Works Department of the Council before exercising the Council’s powers under Section 115B (Provision, etc., of services and amenities by councils) or Section 115C (Provision of recreation and refreshment facilities by councils) of Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980.

Streetscene Management

87. It may be necessary to refuse applications for permission under Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980 in respect of advertising boards where they would unacceptably contribute to streetscene clutter. Where these relate to premises in any of the main towns of the county (i.e., Aberystwyth, Tregaron, Lampeter, Llandysul, Cardigan or Aberaeron) consideration will be given by the Council’s Streetscene Management to the provision of display boards by the Council upon which such places may be advertised in map form for public information purposes.

Objects on Verges

88. Objects on verges such as advertisement signs and display goods which are considered to obstruct or endanger users of the highway will be treated as unauthorised obstructions or encroachments and action taken against those that are brought to the Council’s attention. Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980 does not allow the Council to grant permission for these because verges are not footways within the meaning of the Act.

21 Environmental Considerations

89. The Council reserves the right to –

(a) refuse to grant a permission;

(b) withdraw a permission; or

(c) refuse to renew a permission under Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980 in respect of any object(s) it considers likely to create noise disturbance by attracting public congregation or public order or management control problems.

Placing of Refuse on Footways for Collection

90. Many footways are used for temporary accommodation of refuse awaiting collection. It is the responsibility of the person depositing the refuse to ensure it does not unreasonably impede or endanger pedestrians, or become a nuisance or public health hazard. Refuse awaiting collection is not an appropriate subject for Part VIIA of the Highways Act 1980. The Council employs the Environmental Protection Act 1990 for the management of such deposits.