Stopping up and diversion orders for highways

A public highway crossing your site does not disappear because planning permission has been granted over it. Building across it is an obstruction, and the only way to extinguish or move the right of way is a stopping up or diversion order. For a development site, the usual route is a stopping up order planning applicants obtain under section 247 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, or section 257 where the route is a footpath, bridleway or restricted byway. Either way the order is a separate consent on a separate timetable, and it is the one most often left out of the programme.

What a stopping up order does

An order extinguishes the public right of passage over a defined length of highway, or diverts it onto a new alignment, so that development authorised by a planning permission can be carried out.

Three points follow from that wording. The order is tied to a specific permission, so it cannot be obtained speculatively for a site with no consent. It deals with the public right rather than with ownership, so a private right of way over the same strip survives untouched and needs its own treatment. And it is permissive rather than mandatory: the decision maker can refuse, and the planning permission gives no entitlement to the order.

Adopted highway also carries apparatus. Street lighting columns, drainage, and statutory undertakers' plant under the surface all need separate agreements, and the order says nothing about them.

The statutory routes available

Four routes cover almost all development situations.

Choosing between section 247 and section 257 depends on the status of the route rather than on how it looks. A tarmac path running between houses can be a footpath on the definitive map, or it can be adopted highway maintainable at public expense, and the answer changes the application entirely. Ask the highway authority for a definitive map search and a list of streets extract before you assume.

Section 253 is the useful one for programming. It allows the publication and objection stages to run while the planning application is being determined, so the order can be made promptly once permission issues. The order itself cannot be made until the permission exists.

Which body makes the order

Section 247 and 248 orders are made by the Secretary of State for Transport, with applications handled centrally rather than by the local authority. Section 257 orders are made by the local planning authority, which can confirm an unopposed order itself and must refer an opposed one onward.

That split matters for relationships. On a section 257 footpath diversion you are dealing with the same authority that granted your permission, and the officer handling the order is usually in a different team with its own queue. On a section 247 order the council is a consultee rather than the decision maker, and its view still carries weight.

The highway authority, parish council, utility undertakers, user groups and the emergency services are all consulted. Groups representing walkers and riders respond consistently and in detail on footpath orders.

Objections and the inquiry risk

The draft order is published and advertised, and a period is given for objections. An objection that is not withdrawn means the order cannot simply be confirmed.

What happens next is the risk that matters. The decision maker may hold a hearing or a public local inquiry, and on a contested footpath diversion through a village that can mean an inspector, a formal programme and advocacy costs out of all proportion to the length of path involved.

Most objections are about convenience, directness and amenity of the replacement route. The way to reduce them is at design stage: offer a replacement that is no longer, no steeper, no narrower and no less pleasant than the original, surfaced to the same standard, and available before the old route closes. A diversion along the back of a service yard will be fought. One along a planted route with better lighting usually is not.

Timescales against the build programme

Treat the order as a long lead item sitting on the critical path.

The sequence runs: route status investigation, pre-application discussion with the order-making body, design of the replacement, application with plans and a justification statement, publication and advertisement, objection period, resolution or inquiry, order made, then a period before the order takes effect. Each step is weeks rather than days, and an inquiry adds months.

Programme it alongside the planning application rather than after it, and use section 253 where the dates are tight. Where a scheme needs both an order and highway works under section 278 of the Highways Act 1980, run the two designs together, because the replacement route usually forms part of the section 278 drawings.

Expect the planning permission to carry a condition preventing development that affects the highway until the order has been confirmed. That is a legitimate use of a condition and it is also a lending obstacle, so flag it to your funder early. The reasoning behind that kind of restriction is set out in the national guidance on the use of planning conditions.

Alternatives to stopping up

Four alternatives are worth testing before committing to an order.

Design around the route, keeping the alignment and building either side of it, which often costs less than the order and the inquiry risk combined. Dedicate a replacement route voluntarily and leave the original in place where the layout allows both. Use a temporary traffic order for construction-period closure where the highway is only an obstacle during the build. Or re-plan the scheme so the affected length falls outside the developable area.

Where construction-period closure is the answer, the arrangements belong in the Construction Traffic Management Plan so the authority can see the diversion signing and the duration.

Preparing the application

The application stands or falls on its plans. Supply an accurate plan showing the existing highway edged in one colour and the replacement edged in another, to a scale the public can read, with widths and levels annotated.

Add a statement explaining the development, the permission reference, why the existing route cannot be retained, how the replacement compares on length, width, gradient, surfacing and lighting, and what consultation you have already carried out. Where traffic effects are part of the justification, cross-refer to the Transport Assessment rather than restating it, and where the scheme is below the assessment threshold a Transport Statement will usually carry the point.

Then talk to the local user groups before you publish. An objection withdrawn is worth more than an objection answered.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with the order-making body or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.