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The London County Council appear to have considered
the application in common with others received from various
Local Authorities in the Metropolis. It is stated that
the total length of streets which the Council were asked to
declare as main roads was 412 miles.
The applications were dealt with by the Highways Committee
of the Council, who were of opinion that the provisions
of the Local Government Act, and of the Highways
and Locomotives Act, with reference to main roads, were
" totally inapplicable to thoroughfares of the County of
" London, having regard to the different conditions under
" which they were managed and to the number of Authori"
ties concerned in their management," and they therefore
determined to ask Her Majesty's Government to take the
necessary steps for amending the Local Government Act,
1888, by exempting the County of London from its provisions
on the subject of main roads.
The matter has, it is believed, been brought before the
President of the Local Government Board, but no decision
upon the question has yet been announced.
The question is an extremely serious one, especially for a
District like St. Giles, which contains so much more than
its due proportion of certain roads. And it is difficult to
believe that the Legislature, having so recently placed the
Metropolis within the scope of the Highways and Locomotives
Act, would be likely to now exempt the same.
The decision will be awaited with considerable interest.*
* A communication has been received, dated the 21st May, 1890, stating
that the London County Council decline to accede to the Board's application.