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61
in the following report of their Highways
Committee —
Your Committee have considered the applications which have
been made by the several Vestries and District Boards for thoroughfares
in their respective districts to be declared by the Council to
be "Main Roads," under the provisions of sections 11 and 41 of the
Local Government Act, 1888, and the Highways and Locomotives
(Amendment) Act, 1878. The last-named Act did not apply, so far
as the provisions as to main roads were concerned, to London (in
fact, the Metropolis was specially excluded by section 2 from the
operation of the Act), but by section 41 of the Local Government
Act, 1888, the provisions of tbe Highways Act relative to main roads
were extended to London. Under section 15 of the Highways Act,
1878, the Common Council of the City, or any Vestry or District
Board, if of opinion that any highway in its district ought to become
a main road, by reason of such highway being a medium of communication
between great towns, or a thoroughfare to a railway
station, or otherwise, may apply to the London County Council for
an order declaring such part of the road as is within its district to
be a main road; and if the Council be of opinion that there is
probable cause for the application, it is to cause the road to be
inspected, and if satisfied that the road ought to bo a main road, is
to make an order accordingly.
All the local authorities in London, with the exception of the
Court of Common Council and the Strand District Board, have
exercised this power, and the applications received refer to
thoroughfares of all descriptions, and in all parts of London, the
total length of which. as stated by the Vestries and District Boards,
is a little over 412 miles.
The circumstances of the main thoroughfares of London are so
peculiar, that your Committee have found considerable difficulty in
applying the provisions of the section to the roads referred to in
the applications. The thoroughfares of London can scarcely now be
considered as means of communication between great towns, in the
sense which is evidently intended by the Act; for as the greater
part of the goods and passenger traffic is now brought into and
taken out of London by railway, there is very little of what may be
deemed through traffic by road between great towns on either side
of the country, while, with so many railway stations in London,
nearly every road and street may be considered to be a part of a
thoroughfare to a railway station, and so would answer the
description in the section. Your Committee may also point out
that the extra cost of maintenance caused by traffic passing through
a main thoroughfare from one London district to another, or to and
from a railway station, is probably more than met by the increase
in the rateable value of the property consequent upon the road being
used for either of those purposes.
The Local Government Act casts upon the Council the duty of
maintenance of any thoroughfares declared to be main roads, but
the local authorities may claim to retain the management, &c., of
such roads, and in that case the Council is called upon to pay the