As part of the construction of large developments, for example a retail store, Highways Development Control secures improvements to the roads near the site. This is to ensure that the development does not cause congestion. The size of the road improvement will vary depending on the proposed development, but could, for example, necessitate the construction of a new roundabout or pedestrian crossing.
When a large housing development is being proposed which may involve a number of developers, the local planning authority, in consultation with Highways Development Control, will prepare a development brief. The development brief sets out the required improvements to the roads in the vicinity of the site. For example, a large housing development may give the opportunity to provide a new distributor road to ease congestion on existing roads.
When a road improvement is promoted by a developer as part of their scheme, it is called a 'private body improvement'. As part of a land charge search, you can ask an optional question to find out if the property you are buying is affected by a private body improvement.
When a developer proposes a road improvement acceptable to Highways Development Control, a legal agreement is entered into ensuring that the work is supervised to make sure that it is constructed to our standards.
Improvements of this kind are declared on the Con 29 form, but only as an additional question on Con 29(O). This question is the private body proposals question number 4.