Stopping up orders
Updated 25 March 2025
Applies to England
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Section 247 and Section 253
An order under section 247 removes highway rights to enable an approved development to take place. It allows you to:
- permanently close a highway
- close or divert a footpath or footway
Applicants will need to provide plans and evidence of an approved or in-progress planning application.
Section 253 allows the draft order to be published before planning permission has been granted.
Apply to permanently close or divert a highway.
Section 248
Orders under this section allow the closing or diverting of highways that provide private means of access to premises where these cross or enter the route of a proposed new (or to be improved) highway.
Apply to permanently close or divert a highway.
Section 249
Orders under this section allow the removal of vehicle rights on a highway so that it can be pedestrianised.
The application must be made by the local planning authority.
Apply to remove vehicle rights to pedestrianise a highway.
Section 251
Orders under this section allow the removal of rights of way over land that local authorities hold for planning purposes (carriageways and footways).
Where the local council is acquiring the land through compulsory purchase, that order and the 251 order can be processed at the same time. If the outcome is that both orders are confirmed, the local authority must notify the Secretary of State for Transport that the land acquisition has occurred. Until this has been done the section 251 order cannot be made.
Apply to remove public rights of way over land held for planning purposes.
Section 261
Orders under this section allow the stopping up and diversion of a highway temporarily, to allow for the extraction of mineral workings.
The length of the temporary closure depends on the length of time it would take to complete the works.
At the end of the period, the highway should be restored to a condition not substantially less convenient to the public than it was before the stopping up.
Apply to close or divert a highway temporarily for mineral extraction.