Stopping up / diversion of highways application guidance

Definitions

Highways affected by stopping up orders
Term	Definition
Highway	Highway be may classified as “all purpose highway” and means land over which the public have a right of way on foot and or with vehicles.
Carriageway	This may form all or part of a highway, for which the public have rights of way for the passage of vehicles.
Footway	Part of an all-purpose highway for which the public rights of way on foot only.
Footpath	Not part of an all-purpose highway, but which the public have rights of way on foot only.
Cycle Track	A way forming all or part of a highway for which the public have rights of way on pedal cycle. These rights of way may or may not include right of way on foot.

The development

The LB Tower Hamlets Highways Authority, may, by order under section 247 and section 253 Town and Country Planning Act 1990, authorise the stopping and or diversion of any highway, if satisfied that it is necessary to do so to enable development in accordance with Planning Permission under Part III of the Act.

Therefore, a copy of the relevant planning permission must be submitted with your application. Although an outline planning permission may be acceptable at the time of submission, the stopping up order will not be made until detailed planning permission is granted. Please see the Enclosures section for further information.

The highway

It is essential that measurements are accurately described on the application. Measurements must be to scale. It should be possible to scale the measurements from the approved plan (planning) and the proposed order plan for both to agree.

If the section of highway proposed for stopping up is of irregular shape, it is essential that you include the measurements to cover the start and end point of each angle. Please see sections on Plans and Enclosures for further information.

Plans

Two plans must be provided. These must be no larger than A4, and drawn on a scale of 1:1250 or other suitable scale.
A sufficient section of the surrounding area should be clearly shown on the plans to enable the location of the proposed closure to be easily identified.
The terminal points of the length of the highway proposed to be stopped up or diverted must be clear on the plans.
All plans must clearly show a North Point, preferably prepared so that North is shown parallel with the vertical side of the plan.
Measurements should be metric and taken from the backline of the footway.

Plans must be marked as follows:

One unmarked plan showing the current layout of the highway proposed for stopping up.
One marked plan showing the proposed stopping up as follows:

Marking styles for annotated plans

1 of 7

Zebra hatching (or edged black) - The highway proposed to be stopped up or diverted.

2 of 7

Edged black (or zebra hatching) - The highway proposed to be stopped up or diverted.

3 of 7

Cross hatching along the affected length - Any existing highway to be improved pursuant to the Order (including any widening or realignment)

4 of 7

Stipple - Any new highway, pursuant to the order.

5 of 7

Solid black - Any private means of access to premises or Footpath proposed for stopping up.

6 of 7

Thin diagonal hatching - Any new means of access to premises.

7 of 7

Thick vertical lines - New footpath to be provided, pursuant to the order.

❮ ❯

Statutory undertakers

We are obliged to consult the statutory undertakers, whose rights are protected under the Act, of the proposed stopping up or diversion of a highway.

However, to avoid delays in processing the order, you are encouraged to provide any prior correspondence and or agreements with affected statutory undertakers.

Consents

You must include all relevant consents pertaining to the ownership of land abutting the highway proposed to be stopped up or diverted or to be dedicated pursuant to the order.

Undertaking

IMPORTANT – Please note, you must NOT obstruct the highway until notice announcing the making of the stopping up order by LB Tower Hamlets has been published. It is an offence to obstruct or interfere with a highway before publication of the notice and in doing so may make it impossible for LB Highway Authority to make the order.

Charges

Applicants will be required to cover all costs incurred for the review and processing of stopping and diversion of highways applications. These costs include administrative fees, publication of notices and legal fees. All costs must be met in full before the order is made.

The fees are charged in two stages:

The initial fee is set at a standard rate of £1320 and is due upon confirmation that we will proceed with your application as proposed and or revised. Please note that the stopping up process will not commence prior to receipt of this payment. An invoice will be sent to the billing address provided.
The second stage fees will be invoiced prior to the sealing of the order. All the costs incurred in making the order, including legal fees will be calculated and the initial fee deducted.

Please note:

The set initial fee is non-refundable. This includes circumstances where the stopping up order is not made for any reason including withdrawal of the application.
Legal Fees are set at a standard rate of £3000

Enclosures

All stopping up applications must be accompanied by the documents listed below. Failure to provide these documents will result in delays in processing your application or it not being processed at all.

A copy of the planning permission granted under Part III of the Act.
A copy of the approved site layout plan showing site boundary edged red and existing highway layout edged blue.
A marked plan showing the proposed highway to be stopped up and or diverted – see Plans section.
Correspondence with statutory undertakers affected.
Written consents from all relevant parties - See Consents section.

We may request further documentation depending on the complexity of the development. We will notify you of this during the review stage before any decision to proceed is made.

Timeframes

Once the details of an order have been agreed, it can take up to three months to complete, provided there are no objections to the order as proposed. To avoid delays in processing the order, we advise that a contact is nominated to respond to any matters arising in timely manner.

Once submitted, we will review your application with all the relevant enclosures and assess the impact of the proposal on the highway. We will notify you within 10 working days of our decision and invoice you accordingly.

Upon receipt of the first stage fee, we will commence the process with a consultation of no less than 30 days (up to 35 days if a bank holiday falls within the period).

If there are no unresolved objections at the end of the consultation period or shortly thereafter, we will proceed with sealing the order upon receipt of the final stage payment.

Objections

We will inform you of any objections to the proposed order and actively seek to resolve these matters with the objector(s).

Under the statute, Local Highway Authorities may make an unopposed order to stop up or divert a highway. Where objections cannot be resolved within a reasonable timescale, it may be necessary for us to refer the matter to the Mayor of London for a determination.

Contact

Any queries relating to your application should be made by email to the Highways Records Officer at highway.search@towerhamlets.gov.uk. Please quote your reference number (you will be given a reference number when you submit your application) and the name of the development site.