Written question asked by David Drew (Labour) on Thursday, 20 November 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 24 November 2008. It was answered by Paul Clark (Labour) on Monday, 24 November 2008 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Roads: Closures

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what checks are put in place to ensure that objections to stopping up orders are neither fictitious nor vexatious.

Answer: It is a statutory requirement that the Secretary of State shall publish a notice of his intention to make an order and following which there is a period of 28 days allowed for any person to object to the making of the Order (Town and Country Planning Act 1990 S252 (1)(c) refers).The Secretary of State must consider all objections which relate to the order matter of stopping up of the highways concerned and the provision of any new highway under the order. No checks are made about the fictitious nature of objectors, or those which might be anonymously made, although objections which are made on grounds not related to the order matter might be disregarded by the Secretary of State.

Secondary information