CLOSING OF STREETS

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 61, 23 May 1928, Page 3

CLOSING OF STREETS

BOROUGH COUNCIL'S POWERS. The following letter from the Borough solicitors, Messrs Young and Moss, was read at Monday evening's meeting of the Borough Council: As requested in your letter of the 94th ult., we have to advise you as follows as to the Council's powers to temporarily close streets in the Borough and as to the Council's liability to pay compensation to Mr Jakes for the closing of Broadway, as claimed in his letter of the 14th ult. The streets of the Borough ar e now divided into two classes, namely, those streets declared to b e main highways under "The Main Highways Act, 1922," and ordinary Borough streets. The general power of the Council to temporary close streets is contained in section 172, sub-sec-tion 4 paragraph (i) of "The Municipal Corporations Act, 1920," which confers power on the Council to stop the traffic on any street or part thereof for various reasons, such as for repairs, during any period of public disorder or "when for any reason it is considered desirable that the public traffic and passage should be temoprarily diverted to other streets." By sub-section 5 of the same section Guch power to temporarily close streets may be exercised by the Mayor on behalf of the Council. The above powers, therefore, apply to all ortrnary streets in the Borough. With regard to streets declared to be main highways the position is as follows: By section 9 of "The Main Highways Act„l922" it is declared that the Main Highways Board shall have the sole power of. . . control of all roads and streets declared as main highways, and fori that purpose the powers, rights, duties and liabilities

. . . vested in or imposed on any local authority ar e transferred to and vested in the Main Highways Board. Provision is then made in the same section of the Act for the Main Highways Board to delegate to the lo'eal authority such powers as are vested in the Board. The position regarding the streets in the Borough of Stratford which have been declared as main highways (of which Broadway is one) is that by resolution of the Main Highways Board passed on February 24th, i. 928, the powers of control over these streets were delegated by the Main Highways Board to the Council, and therefore the main highways within the Borough are under the control of the Council. The above-mentioned power to close streets, vested in the Council by the Municipal Corporations Act, is therefore still vested in the Council by delegation "from the Main Highways Board in respect of main highways. For -the above reasons we therefore have .to advise you that the Council, or the Mayor on behalf of the Council, can temporarily close any street in the Borough, including those streets declared as main highways, for any of the reasons set out in paragraph (i) of section 172 of "The Municipal Corporations Act." This being so, we are of the opinion that Mr Jakes has no legal claim against the Council for the closing of Broadway during the Jubilee celebrations, as such closing was in exercise of satutory power vested in the Council and the Mayor.