The problem: Private land can be adopted without your knowledge or consent.

My house was in mid-development when the council adopted the small cul-de-sac I live on, which also included my drive (the photo shows what my drive looked like when it was adopted).  I didn’t know this had happened until I saw the adoption certificate on the lamp post.  The legislation used, s.228(7) of the Highways Act 1980, allows a private road to be adopted if the majority of owners on the premise petition for the adoption.  My neighbours (8 houses) never told me they were petitioning the road to be adopted, and I’m the only one who lost land that serves as a single egress.  What's more curious is that UK taxpayers have to foot the bill for maintenance for land they will never use.  Ultimately the goal of this petition is to have this legislation corrected so the functioning of a drive serving a dwelling can’t be changed without the landowner’s knowledge/consent.  Jacob Rees-Mogg says the UK government will not acknowledge petitions from Change.org, but the media will and this should be shared as a warning to every landowner. This legislation can be weaponised to take control over private land.

What is at stake:

If the council can have my drive adopted without my knowledge, they can have yours adopted, too. If there is a piece of land in your ownership that can be considered a street, which is anything that is a road, a way, a lane, or a footpath, the local authority can use this piece of legislation to adopt it.  This includes the footpath to your front door (I'm not kidding).  If your drive is adjacent to a field, a piece of greenbelt, or a vacant lot, your council could adopt your land to gain access to the field to develop it with lots of compact housing, affecting your amenity, privacy, and the enjoyment of your land. If your drive abuts the back of someone's rear garden, they can open up fencing from their rear garden and gain access to the now-adopted highway.  Or if, like what happened to my property, your drive is next to another property and your council adopts it using this legislation, your neighbours can now use your drive to access their property infringing on your once private amenity.  You can read about it by clicking here.  The only way to oppose the adoption using s.228(7) of the Highways Act is through an astronomically expensive judicial review.  

If you think that a council should not use s.228(7) to:

• adopt private roads that do not benefit the public
• adopt a drive without the landowner’s knowledge
• block a landowner's lawful development

THEN PLEASE SIGN MY PETITION AND LET'S CORRECT THIS LEGISLATION THAT DOES NOT CONSIDER THE LANDOWNER'S USE.