Legislative Responsibilities

From Road Name Data Wiki

The following pages review councils' current responsibilities and the powers vested in local government through various acts of legislation to create and maintain road information within the municipality. Note; there is a significant amount of legislation directed towards local government as a road authority, the purpose of this review is not to create an exhaustive list of all references, rather to focus in on the responsibilities and powers that have a direct bearing upon local government’s role as road name data custodian.

Contents 1 Powers to Name a Road 1.1 Road Name and Alignment Certification 2 Powers to Declare a Road 3 Powers Pertaining to Access 4 Responsibility to Manage Roads 5 Responsibility to Publish a Roads Register 6 Responsibility to Notify Registrar of Geographic Place Names and Other ESO 7 Discussion

Powers to Name a Road

Under the Local Government Act Councils have been vested with the powers to name roads that are located within their municipal boundary:

Local Government Act 1989, Schedule 10, page 410 powers of councils over roads

5 Power to name roads, erect signs and require premises to be numbered

(1) A Council may-

(a) approve, assign or change the name of a road; and

(b) erect signs on a road;…

(2) The Council, in exercising a power under paragraph (a) of subclause (1) must act in accordance with the guidelines in force for the time being under the Geographic Place Names Act 1998 and must advise the Registrar under that Act of the action it has taken under that paragraph.

The issue here is that the legislation does not make naming of roads mandatory - Councils may councils have the power but do not have to exercise them.

However, when the powers are exercised then Councils must follow the guidelines. The Geographic Place Names Act 1998 empowers the Governor in Council to make guidelines relating to the procedures that are to be followed by organisations responsible for naming Victorian places, including roads. These Guidelines (GNV) designate all Local Governments as place naming authorities, along with VicRoads; DEaT (now DEECD); DoI; DSE; DHS and the Minister for Planning where place includes road and street names. These authorities are collectively responsible for all geographic place naming determinations. The Act acknowledges that in respect of roads Local Government has a major role but recognises that councils will need to coordinate with DSE and VicRoads, which also have power to name roads.

The guidelines define the procedures by which powers vested in council shall be exercised in naming roads.

Guidelines for Geographic Names Victoria, Principles, Policies & Procedures, October 2004, page 33

3.3 Road and Street Naming and Street Addressing

The naming of roads and streets and provision of street numbering systems is a local government responsibility under the Local Government Act 1989. Road and street naming is now required to follow the minimum standardisation principles approved by the Minister and Governor in Council under the Geographic Place Names Act 1998. Local Government Authorities and any administering bodies naming streets, roads, tracks etc., are required to notify the Registrar of new or altered street/road names for inclusion in the Geographic Names Register.

The Department of Sustainability and Environment has limited responsibility for naming some roads in public land.

Local Government Authorities may need to contact VicRoads for information on some categories of roads. (See Appendix 4: ‘A Guide to Road Naming in Victoria’).

The GNV (section 1.4 page 17) states that Roads and Street names along with Public Car Parks (of significance) are a necessary inclusion in the register; cycle paths, walking tracks and horse trails are desirable but not necessary.

The GNV guidelines for naming roads and streets applies to all public, private streets/roads/lanes including - educational campuses; retirement villages; retail shopping and entertainment complexes; tourist precincts.

Guidelines for Geographic Names Victoria, Principles, Policies & Procedures, October 2004, page 64

4.3.2.1 Road and Street* Name Determination - Preparation of Proposal

• Definition: All public, private streets/roads/lanes including - educational campuses; retirement villages; retail shopping and entertainment complexes; tourist precincts.

Note: in several workshops some councils stated that they did not apply the GNV Guidelines to the naming of private roads or roads on common property.

The Road Management Act vests powers in the co-ordinating road authority to also name a road and prescribes that the process follows Geographic Place Names Act guidelines.

Road Management Act 2004 Version 024

Part 3—The Road System

Division 1—Roads

11 Power to declare and name a road ...

(8) The relevant coordinating road authority may by notice published in the Government Gazette name or change the name of a road.

(9) The relevant coordinating road authority must in exercising a power under subsection (8)—

(a) act in accordance with the guidelines in force for the time being under the Geographic Place Names Act 1998; and

(b) advise the Registrar under that Act of the action it has taken under subsection (8).

For the majority of roads within a municipality the local government council is the coordinating road authority. In the case where the coordinating road authority is not local government then it is possible that a road may be named by more than one authority. This generally occurs along state highways where Local Governments assign a local name for part of the highway. For example, the Western Highway as named by Vicroads is also called Neill Street by the Pyrenees Council as it passes through Beaufort; both names are recorded in the Register and appear in Vicmap.

Road Name and Alignment Certification

Most new road names are created through the Subdivision Process. The Subdivision Act gives councils the powers to certify that a proposed plan of subdivision satisfies the requirements for road names, alignments and addressing. The registration of a plan of subdivision that has been certified by council is deemed to also be the registration of the road names with the Registrar of Geographic Place Names. The road name and its status as a public highway come into effect upon registration.

Subdivision Act 1988 Version 061

24 What is the effect of registration?

(2) Upon registration—

(b) land set aside as a road vests in the Council or any other person or body identified for that purpose in the plan freed and discharged from any mortgage, charge, notice or memorandum of charge, restriction, lease or sub-lease; and

(c) any road vested in the Council becomes a public highway; and …

The Owners Corporation may create or change roads. However, the resulting road is vested in council.

32 Powers to alter subdivision

If there is a unanimous resolution of the members, an owners corporation may proceed under this Division to do one or more of the following—

(m) create roads or reserves.

32AC Creation of roads and reserves

(1) The owners corporation may exercise its powers over land under section 32(m) even though the land is not, and will not after the exercise of the power become, land affected by the owners corporation.

(2) The owners corporation cannot exercise its powers over land under section 32(m) so that the land vests in itself.

Powers to Declare a Road

Under the Local Government Act Councils have responsibility for declaring the status of roads, other than arterial and freeways that are located within their municipal boundary:

LGA Division 2—Provisions relating to roads and public highways and traffic regulation

204 Council may declare a road to be a public highway or to be open to the public

(1) A Council may, by notice published in the Government Gazette, declare a road in its municipal district to be a public highway for the purposes of this Act.

(2) A Council may, by resolution, declare a road that is reasonably required for public use to be open to public traffic.

(3) A road does not become a public highway by virtue of a Council resolution made under subsection (2).

LGA SCHEDULE 10 POWERS OF COUNCILS OVER ROADS

3 Power to discontinue roads

A Council may, in addition to any power given to it by sections 43 and 44 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987—

(a) discontinue a road, or part of a road, by a notice published in the Government Gazette; and

(b) sell the land from that road (if it is not Crown land), transfer the land to the Crown or itself or retain the land.

Powers Pertaining to Access

Local government can discontinue roads, restrict access, provide seasonal access, permanently or temporarily close a road

LGA SCHEDULE 11 SCHEDULE 11 POWERS OF COUNCILS OVER TRAFFIC

7 Power to close road on seasonal basis

A Council may close a road, or part of a road, for a particular period during the year.

11 Powers concerning shopping malls

A Council may declare a road, or a part of a road, to be a shopping mall and may prohibit or restrict the entry of motor vehicles into any such mall.

12 Power to restrict use of road by vehicles of a certain size etc.

(1) A Council may prohibit or restrict the use of a road by any motor vehicle of, or over, a certain size or weight.

(2) Despite anything to the contrary in section 223, if in the opinion of the Council the use of a road by motor vehicles of, or over, a certain weight poses an immediate risk of danger to people or damage to property (including damage to the road itself), the Council may exercise a power under this clause before it makes a final decision on the exercise of the power.

14 Power to prohibit traffic on unsafe roads

A Council may prohibit or restrict traffic on a road that it considers is unsafe for that traffic.

Responsibility to Manage Roads

The Local Government Act makes councils responsible for the care and management of certain roads within their municipal boundary. The extent of that responsibility has been further defined by the Road Management Act.

LGA Division 2—Provisions relating to roads and public highways and traffic regulation

205 Councils to have the care and management of certain roads

(1) A Council has the care and management of—

(a) all public highways vested in the Council; and

(b) all roads that are the subject of a declaration under section 204(2); and

(c) all public highways on Crown land and roads vested in a Minister (other than freeways and arterial roads within the meaning of the Road Management Act 2004 and public highways and roads vested in a public authority); and

(d) all roads that the Council has agreed to have the care and management of.

(2) This section is subject to the Road Management Act 2004.

Councils also have powers to

• construct and maintain roads
• deviate roads
• fix road alignment
• narrow or widen roads
• provide for temporary roads
• place obstructions or barriers on a road permanently
• place obstructions or barriers on a road temporarily
• restrict use of road by vehicles of a certain size etc.
• prohibit traffic on unsafe roads

Responsibility to Publish a Roads Register

The Road Management Act requires that a road authority must keep a register of public roads for which it is the coordinating road authority. This also includes details of public roads that are discontinued. Road Management Act 2004, SCHEDULE 1, REGISTERS OF PUBLIC ROADS

1 The register must include—

(a) the name of each public road or, if a road is unnamed, a description which enables the particular road to be easily identified;

(b) if a road becomes a public road after 1 July 2004, the date on which the road became a public road;

(c) if a public road ceases to be a public road, the date on which the road ceased to be a public road;

(d) the classification, if any, of the public road;

(e) the reference of any plan or instrument made on or after 1 July 2004 that fixes or varies the boundaries of a public road;

(f) any ancillary areas;

(g) a reference to any arrangement under which road management functions in respect of any part of a public road or ancillary area is transferred to or from another road authority;

...

2 Matters which may be included in a register of public roads

The register may include information or cross references to information—

(a) if a road became a road before 1 July 2004, the date on which the road became a road;

(b) about infrastructure in, on, over or under a road;

(c) relating to the mechanism by which a road was created or became a road;

(d) relating to construction standards for a public road;

(e) the reference of any plan or instrument made before 1 July 2004 that fixes or varies the boundaries of a road;

(f) which a road authority considers appropriate.

Responsibility to Notify Registrar of Geographic Place Names and Other ESO

In notifying the Registrar of Road name data councils are required to supply a plan or map that identifies the location, alignment and extent to which the name applies.

The submission of this data may occur as part of the registration of a Certified Plan with the Office of Titles. The road names listed on the plan will be regarded as approved by council. They will be gazetted by the Registrar and included in the register and Vicmap.

GNV Guidelines, Appendix 4, page 89

Local councils must notify the Registrar of Geographic Names of new or altered road names. This should be done by notifying the Registrar in writing of the council's endorsement of the proposal, with a map or plan on which the subject road has been depicted and can be identified.

Road names can also be assigned when a council certifies a plan of subdivision and forwards it for registration of title. This is also registration of name - therefore, no other notification is required.

The Guidelines go further in their information requirements that are to be communicated to other Emergency Service Organisation. The obligation is part of the NECESSARY INCLUSION. However, the Act lists several road attributes that are not part of the standard data fields.

Section 4.4.2 of the 2003 edition of the Guidelines:

Road/Street Names

The Local Government Act provides for council naming of roads and streets, however it is a requirement that new or altered road/street names are notified to the Registrar to ensure their incorporation into Vicmap Digital as early as possible. This can be done by notifying the Registrar in writing, together with a map showing the location of the road/street in question.

Other ESO Information

The same process a naming authority uses to notify the above information can be used to notify other relevant information required to support the Emergency Service Organisations Computer Aided Dispatch system. The information required by ESOs includes:-

• new road alignments
• major road re-alignments
• road closures
• road openings
• advice on when roads become trafficable
• roundabouts - installation/removal
• traffic signals
• traffic directions/re-directions
• barriers….new/changes
• gates….new/changes
• height limits
• road/bridge/tunnel….new/changes
• fords

Discussion

With respect to municipal roads it is clear from the above legislation exerts that councils have the powers and responsibility to manage the majority of road data that has been targeted for local government custodianship.

In respect of Road Names there are three major instruments that are used to record and report data, namely:

1. The Register of Geographic Place Names (VICNAMES),
2. Vicmap Transport and
3. the Public Roads Registers.

VICNAMES and Vicmap Transport are single centralised collections, whilst the Public Roads Register is distributed across all of the coordinating road authorities. The VICNAMES register is tightly coupled to the Vicmap product set and provides good correlation with the road names in Vicmap Transport. There is no formal or legislative procedure that links the Public Road Registers with the VICNAMES register and a recent pilot study by VicRoads and MAV showed that there where significant discrepancies.

The Public Roads Register is mandated under the Road Management Act. However, the Act does not specify a format or data model, as a result each council has invented its own version of the register; making interoperability of information difficult. From a user’s perspective this makes obtaining a coherent regional or state view difficult.

The Geographic Place Names Act and the Subdivision Act both require a spatial representation of the location, alignment and extent of the road. In the case of new roads these will, in general, be captured through the sub-division process. However, current practice suggests that there are a few gaps in the process, particularly around timing. A certified plan is valid for 5 years before it is required to be registered with the Office of Titles, in many larger subdivisions the plan may undergo multiple changes. Upon registration land set aside as a road vests in council and becomes a “Public Highway”. The VicRoads study revealed that data relating to the extent and alignment of roads was prone to error. In the custodian workshops with councils, officers pointed to numerous examples where the council certification process and the registration of the road names failed to deliver the required quality outcomes. If local government is to embrace the role of roads data custodianship there is a case to be made that:

• part of the registration process should include spatial mapping of the road name and alignment in the context of Vicmap Transport and VICNAMES;
• the process for registering place names as part of the subdivision process needs to be improved to remove the opportunity for error, possibly requiring councils to register the proposed names as they appear on the certified plans.

Many of the participants in the custodianship workshops expressed concern over the management of proposed plans of subdivision, where the plans are certified by council but not registered with the Office of Titles. The solutions that councils have adopted appear to be linked to the quantity of subdivisions processed; the level of volatility (frequency with which they change prior to registration) and the councils broader attitude toward customer service. If the sector is to deliver quality roads data then these issues will need to be addressed to achieve consistent outcomes. However, the solution may not be “one process fits all.” The MAV has initiated a project that will review the subdivision process and includes the collection of “as constructed” plan data as part of the term of reference.

With regard to Private Roads, such as roads constructed on common property and managed by the Owner’s Corporation (formally Body Corporation) or constructions that look like roads on private land there is a degree of ambiguity, which has been recognised by the MAV. Premises that are accessed from a private road network, such as retirement villages and education campuses etc., are often addressed by the occupiers using the private road name. The Road Management Act applies to Public Roads and there is no requirement to publish private road information in the Public Roads Register. The Geographic Names Victoria guidelines recognise private roads and makes provision for the name to be included in the register, though it does not appear to insist upon their inclusion.

Local government practice for dealing with private roads is inconsistent. Some councils appear to have deliberately chosen not to register private road names, in part, because of uncertainly in respect of liability if council formally acknowledges the name. Councils are concerned that the act of recognising the road name could imply that council recognise the structure as a road and consequently may be implicated if damage occurs due to the public accessing the structure as if it were a public road. Conversely, some councils believe they have a responsibility to their community to provide accurate location addresses, particularly for emergency service, and thus record the road names in their register, attributed as a private road.

The practice for dealing with private roads is inconsistent; there is a clear need for:

1. sector wide legal advice on the implications of recording private roads in a roads register and an agreed strategy for moving forwards,
2. local governments practice guidelines for managing the naming process for private roads; specifically, where the occupants of associated premises have an expectation that their location address references the private road name,
3. incorporation of these principles in the planning and subdivision processes to ensure that the naming of all roads (not just those vested in Council) are approved as part of the certification process.