Glossary

1% or 1 in 100-year return period:

Active Travel:

Active Travel is about making journeys in physically active ways, including on foot or via the various human powered wheeled transport options (bicycles, recumbents and wheelchairs etc.).

Advance payments code (APC):

A provision of the Highways Act 1980. The advance payments code provides for us to secure money from you to cover the cost of works in private streets next to new buildings, for example to cover the costs of building the roads in a new development. Before any work begins on the development, you must deposit a sum of money with us to make sure that we can complete the roads within the development to a suitable standard if you fail to complete them. You have one month to appeal against the amount set out in an official notice and you are liable to a fine if you start work on the development before you have paid or secured the money. 

Air quality management areas (AQMA): 

Base traffic: 

This can include:

• existing traffic plus any adjustments for land use which is removed from the site because of the proposed development;
• general traffic growth; and
• any traffic which results from committed development (for example development included in a development plan or has planning permission.

Bend radius: 

This is the measurement of a bend in a road measured along its centre line. The smaller the radius, the tighter the bend.

Binder course: 

This is part of the road-surface construction. Formerly known as the ‘base course’, it is the second layer of construction, immediately below the running surface (known as ‘surface course’).

Block surfacing: 

This consists of concrete or clay blocks laid in a pattern on a bed of sand, and which, in appropriate circumstances, can be used as alternative to a ‘tarmac’ surfacing.

Bond: 

A bond is a form of financial guarantee which will cover our costs if you do not complete the development for any reason and we need to take over and complete the works instead.

Boxed culvert: 

This is a square or rectangular cross-section structure which runs under a road and carries a watercourse, for example a stream.

Brownfield site: 

This is land that has previously been used or developed and is not currently fully in use, although it may be partly used. Or it may be vacant, derelict or contaminated.

Building Plans: 

Under the Building Regulations – which exist to ensure the health and safety of people in and around all types of buildings (that is domestic, commercial and industrial) – anyone who is proposing to erect or extend a building must submit a plan(s) of their proposals to the relevant local authority (usually a district or city council) for approval. The passing of these plans is the trigger for the Advance Payments Code procedure.

Bunding: 

Capping (layer): 

If the ground is structurally weak or likely to be subjected to exceptional loads, a capping layer might be required. This is simply selected fill material, often crushed rock, laid in layers and thoroughly compacted up to the sub-base layer.

Catch pits: 

These are maintenance access chambers on a drainage system which include a sump to collect materials that might otherwise block a drain, ditch or watercourse.

California Bearing Ratio (CBR): 

This refers to the California Bearing Ratio – a test to measure the strength (softness or hardness) of the subgrade of a road.

CCTV: 

Closed circuit television.

Centre-line radius: 

This is the radius of an imaginary circle which has a bend in the road as part of its circumference. The centre-line radius has to be increased on bends to accommodate larger vehicles, for example buses or lorries.

Commission for Architecture and Built Environment (CABE): 

A public body, funded by the government, CABE state they believe that well designed homes, streets, parks, workplaces, schools and hospitals are the fundamental right of everyone.  It further states that it will use its skills and resources to work for higher quality of life for people and communities across England.

Commuted sum: 

Provided for under the Highways Act 1980, this is a sum of money paid to us by a developer to cover the future maintenance costs of certain areas or items that we are going to adopt and maintain at public expense. 

Concept proposal: 

This is an outline of a proposal to be submitted for planning permission. Its purpose is to bring together all highways and transportation, planning and any other relevant matters to demonstrate how you propose to deliver a safe and accessible high‑quality development that can be satisfactorily maintained.

It should normally consist of one or more plans along with any supporting information. It should fit together clearly, consistently and logically with any transport assessment and draft travel plan. When you are preparing it, you should refer to the relevant design guidance set out in this document and take account of ‘designing out crime’ issues.

The specific content of the concept proposal will depend on:

• whether your development proposals are explicitly covered by this design guidance; and
• whether you are intending to submit an outline or detailed planning application for your development.

Construction (design and management) regulations 2015: 

These regulations state what must be done and what cannot be done when designing and managing construction works. (The Regulations define construction work as any building, civil engineering or engineering construction work.) The CDM regulations define the roles and responsibilities of everyone involved with construction work, including those who commission the works, those who design them and those who construct them. The Health and Safety Executive enforces the regulations (and all other health and safety laws in Great Britain). Anyone breaking the law could face criminal prosecution.

Construction Exclusion Zone:

The part of a development site from which all pedestrian and vehicular movements are excluded by protective fencing, typically to ensure the wellbeing of trees, during site works. Also see “root protection area”.

Construction Traffic Management Plan:

The purpose of a construction traffic management plan is to organise site activities so that vehicle traffic and pedestrian traffic can be segregated to minimise the risk from vehicles, and so that traffic routes can be used safely.

Crossfall: 

This is the camber - the slope from one side of the road to the other.

Culvert:

A tunnel carrying a stream or open drain under a road.

Cycle lane:

A division of a road marked off with painted lines, for use by cyclists.

Cycling and Walking Strategy:

Design Manual for Roads and Bridges:

The Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) contains information about current design standards relating to the design, assessment and operation of motorway and all-purpose trunk roads in the United Kingdom.

Development land use classes: 

Developments are given different classifications related to their land use (C-F and Sui generis). These are used to help define the council’s transport assessment and parking requirements.

Development plan: 

This document is prepared by a planning authority and sets out policies on land use and development, including highways and transport, over a particular period. Examples include structure plans (prepared by county councils) and local plans (prepared by district councils). Structure plans and local plans are to be replaced by local development documents due to recent changes in planning legislation.

DfT: 

Easement: 

This refers to the right (secured by a legal agreement) to use or cross someone else’s land for a specified purpose, for example to carry out work on underground pipes.

Emergency accesses: These are closed to general motor vehicles and are for use by the emergency services only, for example the police and fire brigade,. Gates or removable bollards are usually placed at each end. They are not encouraged, as development layouts should be designed to allow easy access for emergency vehicles, so that emergency access should be necessary only in exceptional circumstances. 

Entry ramp: 

An upward sloping ramp used at road junctions. Located at the start of the side road, the ramp controls the speed of a vehicle that has turned from the main road into the side road.

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Exempted developments:  

F10 - Notification of construction project:

A construction project is notifiable to the Health and Safety Executive via an F10 form if the construction work is expected to:

• last longer than 30 working days and have more than 20 workers working at the same time at any point on the project or
• exceed 500 person days

Final certificate: 

We issue this certificate either under a Section 38 or Section 278 agreement once you have completed and maintained (usually for at least 12 months) road or highway works to our satisfaction. Once we have issued the certificate, we become responsible for maintaining the works at public expense and the bond can be cancelled. See also provisional certificate.

Footpath: 

This is a pedestrian route that is open to the public (a public right of way), often running across open fields but sometimes providing links within urban areas. 

Footway: 

This is a pedestrian route that runs alongside a carriageway as part of a road.

Formation level: 

This is the level of the ground the various layers of a road’s construction are founded on.

Frontager: 

This refers to someone whose residence or business fronts onto a road. The frontager can be a private householder in a residential area for example, or a company.

Fully kerbed cycle track:

Cycle track separated by a full kerb. (see extract from Local Transport Note 1/20 below)

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Further and higher education: 

Green infrastructure:

Headwall: 

A headwall is a retaining wall at the end of a culvert or drain that supports the banks of rivers or streams and ensures that they are not eroded by discharged water.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE): 

A public body, funded by the Government, the HSE’s job is to help the Health and Safety Commission to make sure that risks to people’s health and safety from work activities are properly controlled. It is also responsible for enforcing health and safety law in Great Britain and has powers to prosecute if the law is broken.

Highways Act 1980: 

In broad terms this Act governs the construction, maintenance, operation, use and control of the public highway.

Highway Development Management:

­­­­­­Inclusive mobility:

Is the provision of an inclusive environment and issues related to disabling barriers, the use of technology, maintenance, awareness of the needs of disabled people, and engagement.

Intergreen:

the amount of time between the end of a traffic signal green phase, and the start of another green phase.

Invert: 

Jointing chamber: 

Latitudinal gradient: 

This is the camber - the slope from one side of the road to the other.

Local Highway Authority:

The authority responsible for the management and maintenance of  highway, usually the county council or unitary authority for a particular area.

Local Nature Recovery Strategy:

Strategies that propose how and where to recover nature and improve the wider environment across England.

Local Transport Note 1/20 "Cycle Infrastructure Design":

Government guidance for local authorities on designing high-quality, safe cycle infrastructure.

Local transport plan (LTP): 

LTPs set out a local authority’s priorities over a five-year period.  It includes transport strategies, aims and objectives. 

The Government gives money to local authorities for improving highways and transport based on the LTP process.

Longitudinal gradient: 

Manual of Contract Documents for Highway Works:

A national, standard suite of specification documents which are included within a construction contract.

Manual for Streets:

Government guidance that explains how to design, construct, adopt and maintain new and existing residential streets.

Manhole: 

NJUG7:

The National Joint Utilities Group (NJUG) is an organisation that looks after the interests of utility providers (for example, gas, water, cable TV). NJUG7 is a document produced by this organisation which recommends where utility equipment should be positioned.

National Design Guide:

A Government document that sets out the characteristics of well-designed places and demonstrates what good design means in practice.

National Highways (formally known as Highways England):

a government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving motorways and major (strategic) A roads in England.

The National Joint Utilities Group (NJUG):

The National Joint Utilities Group (NJUG) is an organisation that looks after the interests of utility providers (for example, gas, water, cable TV). NJUG7 is a document produced by this organisation which recommends where utility equipment should be positioned.

National Planning Policy Framework:

Sets out Government's planning policies for England and how these are expected to be applied.

Non-Motorised User Audit:

A process applied to highway schemes, by which the design teams identify scheme objectives for Non Motorised Users (someone who walks, cycles or travels by wheelchair or other non-motorised means)

Non-standard drainage systems: 

Percentile design speed: 

This is the speed which a certain percentage of drivers do not exceed. So if the 85%ile design speed of a road is 20mph, 85% of vehicles will travel at 20mph or less.

Perched water table: 

A perched water table can occur where the ground contains isolated layers of less permeable soil (such as clays). If water collects above these isolated layers, perched water tables may develop which can affect pore water pressure (the pressure exerted by the water within the pores or voids in a porous material). See also water table.Personal injury accidents (PIAs): 

These are road accidents which result in a person either being taken to hospital for treatment or being killed. PIAs are recorded by both the police and us,. Central government has set targets to reduce PIAs. (Accidents where no one requires hospital treatment and no one is killed are generally referred to as ‘damage only’.)

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Priority crossing:

A crossing where, when people are crossing the road, or waiting to cross at a junction, traffic should give way. If people have already begun crossing, and traffic is looking to turn into the road, the pedestrian always has the priority.

Private road (or street or access or area): 

A private or unadopted road is owned, maintained and controlled by a private person, persons or corporation rather than the Local Highway Authority. Private roads are not usually open to the public.

Provisional certificate: 

We issue this certificate either under a Section 38 or Section 278 agreement once road or highway works have been completed to our satisfaction. Issuing the certificate marks the beginning of a period (usually a minimum of 12 months) where you are responsible for maintaining the works. The bond can also be reduced, normally to 10% of its original value. See also final certificate.

Priority junction: 

This describes a ‘T’ junction, cross roads or any other junction layout that has ‘Give Way’ (or Stop) markings and traffic is not controlled by any other means (for example by traffic signals or roundabout).

Publicly Available Specification 2080 (PAS 2080):

A British Standard that guides organizations in holistic carbon management, reducing costs, fostering industry leadership, and adapting to a low-carbon future.

quickGreen:

Raised table:

At junctions, raised tables act in a similar way to a continuous crossing, giving pedestrians priority over the junction and requiring vehicles to slow and give way.

Residential access road: 

This is a road with separate provision and surfaces for vehicles and pedestrians, that is it has a carriageway and separate footways.

Road adoption: 

A road built by a developer will be a ‘private road’ maintained by the frontagers unless we take it over to be maintained at public expense. When we take over of the road, we ‘adopt’ it and the road is then referred to as being ‘adopted’.

Road safety audit:

A process for checking the road safety implications of highway improvements and new road schemes.

Root protection area:       

Segregated cycle track:

Segregated space allocates a section of the road for cycle use only, with physical separation used to stop motor vehicles from entering the space.

Shared surface residential access road:

This is an area with one common surface for all users, that is, there is not separate carriageway or footways.

Sags and crests: 

These are dips and peaks in the road.

Scoping report: 

This is a report prepared before a major transport assessment to identify its requirements. Its purpose is to establish key factors that will influence later stages of work. This should avoid the possibility of you carrying out work which later has to be stopped because it was based on incorrect assumptions. 

Section 38: 

Section 38 of the Highways Act 1980 provides for a highway authority to adopt by agreement a road built by a third party. A road adopted under Section 38 will be maintained at public expense. 

Among other things, Section 38 entitles us to seek expenses for maintenance and we intend to do this through commuted sums. 

Section 104: 

Section 104 of the Water Industries Act 1991 provides for a ‘sewerage undertaker’ (water company) to take over, by agreement, ownership and maintenance of any ‘sewer or sewer disposal works’.

Section 106: 

Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 provides for agreements to control the development or use of land. A local planning authority (district council) may enter into a Section 106 agreement with a landowner which, for example, prevents a certain activity being carried out on a site, or which prevents the development proceeding until a particular time. Section 106 agreements can also be used to secure financial contributions from the developer, for example to fund improvements to the highway or public transport or to fund education facilities. We are often a party to Section 106 agreements too.

Section 184:

Under Section 184 of The Highways Act 1980, a person may make a request to the council as the Local Highways Authority for constructing a vehicle access over a footway, or verge in the highway.

Section 219: 

Section 219 of the Highways Act 1980 forms part of the advance payment code. It is the part of the code that provides for us to secure payment from you to cover the costs of constructing the roads within a new development. We would use the money to complete the roads if you failed to do so.

Section 220: 

Section 220 of the Highways Act 1980 is another part of the advance payment code and sets out the timetable for serving notices on developers for the payment of the money. We must serve the notice within six weeks of the development receiving building regulations approval.

Section 278: 

Section 278 of the Highways Act provides for works funded by developers to be carried out on the existing public highway with our agreement. For example, this might include constructing a new roundabout to provide access to a development or improving an existing junction to accommodate extra traffic generated by the development.

Among other things, Section 278 entitles us to seek expenses for maintenance and we intend to do this through commuted sums. 

Shared spaced:

a design approach to streets and places to better accommodate people walking and cycling and reduce the dominance of motor vehicles.

Sinusoidal speed hump:

Humps with a sinusoidal profile are like round-top humps but have a shallower initial rise and provide a more comfortable ride for cyclists in traffic calmed areas.

Statutory undertakers:

Statutory undertakers are the various companies and agencies given general licence to carry out certain development and highways works. Generally these are utilities and telecoms companies or nationalised companies such as Network Rail. In recognition of their special status, statutory undertakers have privileges regarding development and highways access.

Sub-base: 

This is the bottom layer of a road’s construction. Made up of crushed, well‑compacted stone, it is formed either directly on the subgrade or, where ground conditions are poor, on a capping layer.

Subgrade: 

This is the layer of naturally occurring material the road is built on, or it can refer to material that has been used to create an embankment to build the pavement on. 

Sustainable drainage systems (SuDs): 

In general terms, it is an approach to managing rainfall that imitates natural drainage. Water run-off (from house roofs or yards, roads etc.) is collected and stored to allow natural cleaning to occur before it drains into the surrounding earth or it is released into watercourses (streams, rivers and drainage ditches).

Surface course: 

This is the uppermost surface of a road which vehicles run on.

Sustrans: 

Sustrans is a transport charity that works on practical projects to reduce motor traffic and its adverse effects by encouraging people to walk, cycle and use public transport. 

Swept path: 

This is the width needed to accommodate the movement of vehicles as they manoeuvre. Larger vehicles, such as HGVs and 15m-long rigid buses, have a large swept path in comparison with the space that a car requires to manoeuvre. The swept path varies as vehicles move from a straight section of highway to a curved section.

Technical approval: 

You must submit to us design details for all road or highway works that are to be carried out either under a Section 38 or Section 278 agreement. Once we are satisfied with the design, we give it technical approval. You must not start the works until we have issued this approval.

Topography: 

This refers to the natural land features of a region.

Tracking: 

Tracking is providing the required width for vehicle movement within the overall width of the road. It can also be used to establish an appropriate bend radius.  Instead of taking the highway engineering requirements as the starting point for layout design, you can consider the arrangement of the buildings and the boundaries of the development first. You can lay out buildings to suit a particular form, with kerblines helping to define and emphasise spaces. The width between kerbs can vary. (You can find further information on how to use tracking in ‘Places, Streets and Movement’, published by the Department for Transport).

Transport Assessment:

A comprehensive and systematic process that sets out transport issues relating to a proposed development.

Transport modelling:

Traffic modelling is a method used to simulate, analyse, and predict the potential flow of traffic in a particular area or for a specific development.

Transport statement:

A ‘lighter touch’ version of a Transport Assessment and is used in some cases where transport issues arising out of development proposals do not require a full Transport Assessment.

Travel plan:

This refers to a package of measures tailored to the needs of individual sites and aimed at reducing reliance on the car, for example by encouraging more use of public transport, walking and cycling. It involves developing a set of mechanisms, initiatives and targets (as appropriate) that together can enable an organisation to reduce the impact of travel and transport on the environment. It is a process that will grow and develop with time and reflect the changing circumstances of an organisation and its environment. 

Traffic Regulation Order:

A legal order seeking to change parking restrictions and moving traffic restrictions on roads at a particular location.

Turning head: 

This is the space at the closed end of a cul-de-sac (or similar) which allows vehicles to turn round without having to reverse over long distances or cause damage to verges or footways.

Visibility splays:

Walking, Cycling and Horse-Riding Assessment:

A planning tool that provides an evidence-based assessment of the potential needs of non-motorised users.

Water table: 

This is the level below which the soil is permanently saturated. See also perched water table.