Road Responsibilities
From Road Name Data Wiki
The following text is a direct copy from: David Gabriel-Jones's Road Terminology[1] and is copyright © 2009 The Public Land Consultancy, it is published here with permission from The Public Land Consultancy and should be read in conjunction with the rest of the report.
Contents |
Councils and Roads
This section is intended to provide an overview of the key points of the legal context in which councils deal with roads.
In considering councils’ road-related powers, responsibilities and functions it is necessary to distinguish between:-
- Ownership
- Control
- Management responsibility, and
- The exercise of non-managerial functions such as the assignment of names.
Roads which Councils Own
- By ‘ownership’ we mean ownership of the land on which the road is constructed
- Councils own many freehold roads in fee simple
- For some council-owned roads, the title documents misleadingly show some other party as being the owner
- Other roads may be owned by the Crown or by private land-owners.
Roads which Councils Control
- Councils control all the roads they own
- Councils also control some roads which they don’t own – including ‘government roads’ and roadways in Crown reserves where the council is Committee of Management
- The Road Management Act describes roads which councils control as ‘municipal roads’
- Other roads within a municipality may be controlled by VicRoads, DSE, Parks Victoria, Committees of Management of Crown Reserves, etc
- Appendix 1 provides a tool for determining who controls any given road
Roads which Councils Manage
- Councils need not manage all the roads they control
- Councils have discretion to decide which roads they will construct and manage
- The roads a council chooses to manage are usually (but not necessarily) designated as ‘public roads’ and placed on the road register.
Roads which Councils may Name
- Councils may name any road – regardless of whether or not they own, control or manage it – subject to the guidelines made under the Geographic Place Names Act
- The guidelines recognize ‘naming authorities.’ Councils are the naming authority for:-
- (a) all roads which they control, and
- (b) all roads in private ownership
- Other ‘naming authorities’ recognized by the guidelines include VicRoads and DSE – which each control their own set of roads
- As a consequence of naming a road, a council does not accept control of the road, and cannot be held liable for its management
Further look at councils' responsibilities and what powers have been vested in Councils through legislation and the codes that govern the enactment of their responsibilities.
References
- ↑ David Gabriel-Jones's, 2009 Road Terminology A guide for councils working with the Geographic Place Names Act 1998, The Public Land Consultancy, Melbourne. RoadTerminology.pdf
