Authority guide

Who is responsible for road damage?

Responsibility follows the road network—not simply the nearest council office.

England

National Highways manages motorways and major A roads on the strategic road network. County councils, unitary authorities, metropolitan districts and London boroughs manage many local adopted roads. TfL manages London red routes.

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

Welsh and Scottish trunk roads use national or operator arrangements while local authorities manage many other adopted roads. Northern Ireland uses a central DfI Roads process. The exact submission route should be checked for the incident location.

Private or unadopted roads

A road can be privately maintained or unadopted. In that case the local highway authority may not be responsible. Our resolver flags uncertainty and lets the user record a correction.

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