Corporate report

Responsibility for clearing litter from motorways and roads

The sec­tions of trunk roads where High­ways England retains the respon­si­bil­ity for sweep­ing and clean­ing.

From:
Highways England
Published
8 February 2013

Documents

Responsibility for clearing litter from motorways and roads

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Details

There are sev­eral pieces of leg­is­la­tion allo­cat­ing respon­si­bil­ity for refuse col­lec­tion on motor­ways and trunk roads:

  • The High­ways Act of 1980 pro­vides for Statu­tory Instru­ments (SI) to enable a stretch of road and slip road to be des­ig­nated as a ‘spe­cial road’ (ie. a motorway).
  • The Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Act of 1990 makes a dis­tinc­tion between spe­cial roads, which are the respon­si­bil­ity of the Sec­re­tary of State; and trunk roads, which are the respon­si­bil­ity of the local authority.

There are some excep­tions, cov­er­ing a small num­ber of roads, where the Act allows the Sec­re­tary of State to trans­fer responsibilities.

Report­ing lit­ter and debris

To find out who is respon­si­ble for clear­ing lit­ter and debris from local roads visit: https://www.gov.uk/reporting-road-obstruction

Published 8 February 2013

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