Over Taylor Biggs

It is a criminal offence under Section 137 Highways Act 1980 to obstruct the highway without lawful authority.  Acquiring part of a highway by adverse possession would thereby derive from an illegal activity and the Court decided that it was unlawful.

The claimant had parked his caravan and some other structures on the land for more than 12 years. He applied to the Land Registry for title registration on the basis of his adverse possession. The County Council as Highway Authority objected and was able to show that the land was recorded on the definitive map as a public highway and therefore open to all traffic.

When the Land Registry rejected the application, the claimant applied to the Court for Judicial Review, arguing that it is possible to extinguish public highway rights by adverse possession.

The Judge doubted any circumstances in which adverse possession could be claimed over a highway without contravening Section 137 Highways Act 1980 and held that the mere fact that the highway had not been used for a number of years was insufficient to exclude public rights over it.

There are means open to those wanting to extinguish public highway rights. These require either an application to the Court under the Highways Act 1980 for a stopping up order or a determination pursuant to planning application under the Town and County Planning Act 1990. Such applications are normally brought by Local Highway Authorities and arise in cases of comprehensive redevelopment of sites.  They tend to meet objections from interested parties as a matter of course.