Find out about our highways service – what we do and what our responsibilities are.
Service expectations:
- To keep the highway in a safe condition for all road users and pedestrians.
- Protect the rights of the public to use and enjoy the highway.
Our services for businesses:
- Licensing - including A boards, skips, scaffolds, street cafés, temporary and fixed signs.
- First point of contact for highways related enquiries, including fault reporting.
Overview of all our services at www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/highways.
Our responsibilities relating to businesses:
- The Highway Act - ensure right to pass and repass (not blocking the highway)
- Carrying out necessary licensing and enforcement.
District and borough councils are responsible for:
- Car parks, on-street parking schemes and enforcement via parking agency agreements
- Permission from the planning department for displaying adverts outside your business premises e.g. to advertise your business or an event
- Permission to sell goods outside your business premises (on the highway).
When you report a fault or a fault is identified by one of our safety inspectors, we work to a set of standards.
These standards are set out in our Defect Management Approach (DMA) documents, and provides our policy and guidance for how our contractor assesses and categorises defects so they can be effectively managed.
All faults are risk-assessed, in line with our DMA and categorised as either category 1 faults (priority faults) or category 2 faults (non-urgent faults).
We respond to category 1 defects within 2 hours through to 20 working days (depending on the risk), whilst category 2 defects have no timescale for intervention and are prioritised alongside other faults in the area, using a limited budget available.
Defect Management Approach – Inspection Manual (PDF 4MB)
Defect Management Approach – Enquiry Guidance Notes (PDF 3.8MB)
Defect Management Approach – Assess and Decide Strategy (PDF 517kb)
This scheme manages the planning and scheduling of all work on the roads. This means less disruption for people.
With the introduction of Dft's Street Manager prjoect there will be changes to the legislation and finer details of the permit scheme in Hertfordshire. These will be implemented after 1 April 2020.
We're responsible for around 150,000 trees on public roads.
This plan describes how we manage our winter maintenance service. It's one of the key parts of making sure that we can have safe and convenient travel during the winter months.
The Cabinet held on 13th March 2017 agreed to support the following projects with £3.571 National Productivity Investment Funding awarded by the Department forTransport, which is aimed at improving local road networks to improve access to employment and housing:
- Bring forward and deliver enabling works for A120 Little Hadham Bypass
- Preparatory design an improvement to the A10 – London Road Roundabout, Buntingford
- Preparatory design for the Essex Road Bridge and Industrial Link in Hoddesdon.
- Resilience works along the A10, particularly the Kingsmead viaduct.
These are the final reports into the exploratory drilling under and next to at locations in Fontmell Close, St Albans