Enfield Road Ownership and Maintenance

 I am writing regarding the road known as Enfield Road, Donington on Bain, which appears to be unregistered with HM Land Registry and is not currently recorded as adopted highway. A private individual has recently claimed ownership of the road, but to date has not provided any documentary evidence of ownership. I would therefore like to clarify the following points with the council:



1.Whether the council holds any records of ownership, maintenance responsibility, or status of this road.

2. Whether the road is recorded on the council's list of streets maintainable at public expense.

3. If not adopted, whether the council would consider adopting the road under the relevant provisions of the Highways Act 1980.

I understand that adoption may depend on the condition of the road and whether it meets current highway standards, and that contributions may be required to bring it up to standard. However, the road currently benefits from drainage, surfacing, pavements and lighting and I would therefore be grateful if you could confirm the process, requirements, and likelihood of adoption in this case.

This road is used by local residents and the general public, and clarification of its status would be of great benefit to all parties.

1. Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) doesn't hold this information. All our records do not show the Lane to be public highway and we don't have any information as to who may own the Lane. However, there was an Enclosure Award for Donington on Bain made in 1789 and this is now held at Lincoln Archives, so the customer may find further information about it there. Ownership information is held at the Land Registry and there may be title information held by it, which may state who is responsible for maintenance.

2. LCC have searched on the List of Streets Gazetteer and can confirm that Enfield Road is not maintainable at public expense.

You can view and check this here: List of Streets in the National Street Gazetteer –

 List of Streets in the National Street Gazetteer - FindMyStreet

3. In regards to a request for adoption of this road, all details need to be researched here before Lincolnshire County Council will take any further action or requests of this type: Highways Adoption, specifically part 2 of this guidance.

On initial searches, Enfield Road is not showing up as being registered as being public highway. We have not found any evidence to show that it has ever been highway, therefore it is presumed that Enfield Road is one of those unadopted, private roads which has existed since construction.

In summary, for adoption of this road to be considered, this road would need to be brought up to adoptable standards before this could take place which would involve considering whether it is in the public interest, such as providing a sole means of access to a church, or a school for example. We can not confirm that Enfield Road is in an adoptable standrad without further surveys and investigations of the area.

Any costs of bringing it up to adoptable standard would need to be apportioned between the property owners using the Private Street Works Code. This can be a long and expensive process with no guarantee of adoption at the end of it. It would also require more than 50% of residents to want the road adopting for this to be applied for and considered for adoption.