Owning half of the road

Salsa2602

So from the black dotted line around my property and the red edging it does show up to the centre of the road. There are no houses opposite and at the bottom end is a turning point. The dotted black line all around the houses is the footpath so you can see the edging extends beyond this

Bookworm105

does not alter the fact that it is now public highway, not your private parking space. Any attempt at blocking (parking bollards) a public highway is an offence  

why not create a parking space in your garden since that appears to be accessible from the other road (would need building regs approval for a dropped kerb over the pavement)

twopenny

Then they park across the exit and you can't get out.

Ok that's one you have to get Highways to reinforce and good luck with trying to do that!

daveyjp

You do indeed own the land within the red, which goes to the moiety of the adjoining streets.  The street to the front looks to be adopted, so whilst you in theory you own it, its  a public highway so you have no control over it, but in return you have no maintenance liability.

You need to check adoption status of the cul de sac (local council site may have maps online), but even if its not adopted it doesn't mean you have control over the land you own as there may be rights for others to pass over the land and its an unadopted public highway.

Section62

Bookworm105 said:

does not alter the fact that it is now public highway, not your private parking space. Any attempt at blocking (parking bollards) a public highway is an offence  

why not create a parking space in your garden since that appears to be accessible from the other road (would need building regs approval for a dropped kerb over the pavement)

If the road is a highway maintained at public expense then the OP would have to apply to the highway authority (usually the council) for permission to construct the crossover, or for the authority to do it.

If so, building regulations wouldn't apply and no approval is needed.

Work within the OP's curtilage may be subject to planning and/or building regulation approval. (this doesn't include the road and footway)

Bookworm105

Section62 said:

Bookworm105 said:

does not alter the fact that it is now public highway, not your private parking space. Any attempt at blocking (parking bollards) a public highway is an offence  

why not create a parking space in your garden since that appears to be accessible from the other road (would need building regs approval for a dropped kerb over the pavement)

If the road is a highway maintained at public expense then the OP would have to apply to the highway authority (usually the council) for permission to construct the crossover, or for the authority to do it.

If so, building regulations wouldn't apply and no approval is needed.

Work within the OP's curtilage may be subject to planning and/or building regulation approval. (this doesn't include the road and footway)

ok so I used the wrong words, big deal
The requirement to get council permission is the point being made, whether planning, regs, or something else will be self evident the second he researches undertaking the work (or someone reports him if he doesn't)

Toasted-Nuts

To sum up the mostly correct responses, you need to find out if the road is adopted highway - your local highways team will have an inspector check it regularly (probably once every 6 months for a cul-de-sac) so will know if it is on their list. If it is public Highway (it seems likely) then you do not have any more rights than anyone else that has a car with insurance, MOT and tax to park there. For what its worth, if gold, diamonds or another valuable mineral were found under the road you could claim these as yours.

ic

My last house had this (built 1896) and I asked my conveyancer about it.  He said as the road had been adopted, the extension of the boundary on to the public highway was essentially null and void - my ownership ended at the fence between my garden and the pavement.  Even if you live on a private road and are responsible for its upkeep, you are likely required to keep the road open and accessible for the unimpeded enjoyment of everybody else.  You can't just go sticking bollards in the road.

Section62

ic said:

My last house had this (built 1896) and I asked my conveyancer about it.  He said as the road had been adopted, the extension of the boundary on to the public highway was essentially null and void - my ownership ended at the fence between my garden and the pavement.  Even if you live on a private road and are responsible for its upkeep, you are likely required to keep the road open and accessible for the unimpeded enjoyment of everybody else.  You can't just go sticking bollards in the road.

Yes and no.

Adoption of a highway doesn't automatically transfer ownership of the land.  But in more recent times highway authorities have generally been reluctant to adopt roads without them also becoming owners of the land below, so it would be relatively unusual to find a recently adopted road where the highway authority is not also the landowner.

There's also an issue with people calling roads 'adopted' when what they really mean is a 'highway maintainable at public expense'.  Unsurprisingly 'adopted' has become a shortcut for the technical term, and as a result the things that commonly apply to 'adopted' roads (like highway authority land ownership) are assumed (by people like solicitors) to apply to all 'public' highways.  When in reality they don't.

If the title plan originally showed some of the highway as being within the red line boundary then (assuming no error in the plan) it is likely the land belongs to you.  The fence marks the boundary between your garden and the highway, and your rights to do things on the land which is highway are limited to what any member of the public is allowed to do.  But ownership of the land itself hasn't been made null and void.