Contact: Alan Giles, ext 7712 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 The following decision is sought:

That the standard fee for the extinguishment of highway rights be increased from £1,500 to £3,000 with immediate effect and is fully reviewed at regular intervals.

2. Reason

2.1 This decision supports Aim 5 (Improving Services) of the Corporate Strategy by improving the efficiency of the service provided and making it more cost effective.

3. Other Options Considered and Rejected

3.1 To retain the current level of fees.

4. Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Decision Maker or Other Executive Member Consulted - None.

5. Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee - Not applicable.

6. Reason(s) for the Matter being dealt with if Urgent - Not applicable.

Approved by: Date:

Councillor T G Knight

314Decn/AG

Contact: Alan Giles, ext 7712 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 In March 2004 a report was prepared by the Chief Executive to the Executive Member for Environment seeking approval for an increase in the fee charged for carrying out applications to extinguish highway rights. It was agreed by officers that the item should be deferred pending further investigations being carried out.

1.2 A study has now been carried out by Treasurer's Consultancy. A summary of the findings is set out in the following paragraphs.

2. Background

2.1 Section 116 of the Highways Act 1980 allows the removal of rights of way over areas of highway, following Magistrates' Court approval of an application by the County Council, as highway authority.

2.2 The study was undertaken to review both the procedure for carrying out an extinguishment of highway rights and the fee that is charged by the County Council.

3. Procedures

3.1 The current procedures were checked against the requirements of the Highways Act and discussed with the Legal Practice; they were confirmed to be appropriate. In addition the procedures were found to be very similar to the approach taken by other highway authorities.

3.2 Respondents from other highway authorities confirmed that carrying out an extinguishment application was a lengthy and time-consuming procedure. On average they carry out no more than two a year. It is estimated that Hampshire County Council carries out 12-15 a year.

4. Current Fee

4.1 The charge of £1,500 was reviewed against other highway authority charges and was found to be among the lowest fees charged for the process. Two ways of updating the fee were considered:

(i) uplifting for inflation since 1996; and

(ii) estimating the actual costs of an average extinguishment.

4.2 The charge would increase to £2,000 if it was uplifted in line with non-teaching staff pay awards since 1996. However it was not clear on what basis the original £1,500 fee had been set in the first place.

4.3 Although estimating Environment Department average staff time was possible, estimating legal staff time costs proved to be difficult due to the work generally being done under the Legal Practice Service Level Agreement. There was a concern that legal costs may not be being fully recovered.

4.4 It was therefore considered that an increase in fees to £3,000 would be appropriate, since this would move the Hampshire County Council charges into the middle of the price banding of other local authorities. However, if exceptionally high charges are incurred on a particular application, which exceeds this level, additional charges will be levied.

5. Public Information

5.1 The Highways team makes its guidance to applicants available as a fact sheet on the Environment Department web pages. This is unusual amongst other highway authorities which only give out information following a direct request.

5.2 The web page information has been reviewed and will be improved in the near future.

Recommendation

That the standard fee for applications for the extinguishment of highway rights be increased from £1,500 to £3,000 with immediate effect and is fully reviewed at regular intervals.

314Rpt/AG