
CHAPTER 5.
An Act to provide that the Minister of Transport shall be the highway authority for the principal roads in Great Britain which constitute the national system of routes for through traffic; to make consequential amendments in the law relating to highways; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid. [18th December 1936]
Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the principal roads in Great Britain constituting the national system of routes for through traffic which by virtue of this Act become trunk roads shall be known by that name and as from the date upon which any road becomes a trunk road the Minister of Transport (hereinafter referred to as "the Minister") shall be the highway authority for the road.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the roads specified in the First Schedule to this Act shall by virtue of this Act become trunk roads as from the first day of April nineteen hundred and thirty-seven.
(3) If the Minister is satisfied that it is expedient to construct a new road or improve any road with a view to superseding any part of a trunk road by the creation of a new route for through traffic, he may after serving upon the council of every county within whose area the part of the trunk road to be superseded, or the route which is to supersede it, is situated, notice of his intention to do so, and, after considering any representation made by any such council within three months after service of the said notice, and after holding a local inquiry, if he thinks fit to do so or if a request therefor is made by any such council within the said three months and not withdrawn, make an order providing that—
(4) Where an order has been made under the last foregoing subsection, section thirty-two of the Local Government Act, 1929 [19 & 20 Geo. 5. c. 17] (which entitles the councils of certain boroughs and urban districts to claim the functions of maintenance and repair of county roads), shall have effect as if the part of the trunk road to be superseded as aforesaid had become a county road on the date of the making of the order, so, however, that any functions of maintenance and repair claimed under the said section in respect of the said part shall not be exercisable until the date on which it becomes a county road.