Highway, public rights of way or common land and town / village green records enquiry

For residents requesting records advice and enquiring about highways, public rights of way or common land and town / village greens. if you require information for commercial reasons please go to our Highway searches page

Notice to all our customers

Following recent advice on the interpretation of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR), we have reviewed our Schedule of Charges and Access to Information, so customers can understand what highway asset records information is available, how to access it, and where charges apply.

The 'Schedule of Charges and Access to Information' provides a full list of the types of highway records customers can request access to, and the fees Cambridgeshire County Council charges for providing that data to customers.

Schedule of Fees 2023-2024810KBpdf
Size: 810KBFile format: pdf

Please note that we do not accept payment by cheque.

For more information or to make an application for highways, public rights of way or common land and town/village green information, please see Highway searches.

Certain raw data is accessible free of charge for use at an individual's own risk.  It may contain errors and should not be used for legal purposes. If you have a question about highway or public right of way records, re-use of the data, or any of our fees, but an answer is not available on our web pages, please submit a query to us using the application form above.

Our highway boundary records are viewable at County Council offices during ordinary office hours by appointment only. Please complete the enquiry form above to arrange an appointment. A member of our team will contact you with further information

Adopted highways

The 'List of Streets' document shows all highways in the county that are maintainable at public expense by Cambridgeshire County Council. Alternatively you can use our interactive map.

List of Streets September 20231.85MBpdf
Size: 1.85MBFile format: pdf

Adopted highways are shown as thick blue lines. 

The lines shown on the interactive map do not indicate the full extent of the highway and should not be relied upon for legal purposes. For more information please go to Highway searches.

If the map does not load, please view it on the MapsCambridgeshire website.

Other enquiries

For information on public rights of way, village greens, commons or open access land can be found at Definitive Map and Statement and Protecting and providing green spaces.

For queries relating to public rights of way, common land or town/village greens please submit your enquiry by clicking on the 'Submit a highway, public rights of way or common land and town/village green enquiry' form at the top of the page.

You can also view information on Mineral Consultation Areas and Flood Management and Drainage.

Making changes to the extent of highway

Areas of public highway sometimes become unnecessary for public use and the highway rights can then be 'stopped up' under Section 116 of the Highways Act 1980 leaving an area of private land (this Section can also be used to divert highway). This is commonly assumed to be in the ownership of adjoining landowners. 

For more information about this process, please read the stopping up application guidance document and our set of frequently asked questions.

Frequently asked questions relating to the purchase / stopping up of Cambridgeshire County Council highway land

With the majority of grass verges/areas, the land will not be owned by Cambridgeshire County Council. However, it is likely that these areas form part of the highway maintainable at public expense. This means that the surface will be subject to highway rights and maintainable by the County Council but the subsoil will be owned by another party.

Anyone wishing to acquire the land would need to consider extinguishing (stopping up) the highway rights and will need to agree a transfer of ownership if the subsoil is owned by a third party.

To find out the extent of the highway maintainable at public expense, you will need to request a highway boundary enquiry via our online form.

Under section 116 of the Highways Act 1980, the Local Highway Authority is able to apply to the Magistrates Court to extinguish highway rights. Anyone interested in extinguishing highway rights over an area of land must therefore apply to the County Council to find out whether the land is still required for highway purposes, and whether an application to stop up the highway could be taken forward.

If the highway rights are successfully extinguished, control of the land reverts to the owner of the subsoil.

It is up to applicants to investigate land ownership and to locate the owner of the affected land. Land Registry hold details of registered landowners and applicants are advised to check with Land Registry for a possible landowner if they do not know.

The Land Registry’s website provides further information on how to check.

If a landowner cannot be found, there is a rebuttable legal presumption that owners of properties own the subsoil beneath the highway to the centre line of the highway. However, this is a matter of evidence and applicants may wish to seek independent legal advice.

The Asset Information Searches team will be able to check if any land is owned by the County Council. If there is, they will advise further.

Although you may have been maintaining the land, if it forms part of the highway it cannot be claimed under Adverse Possession. Instead the highway rights should be extinguished under a stopping up order (provided it is no longer required for highway purposes).

  • The County Council recovers its reasonable costs from the applicant. A non-refundable fee of £86.40 (inc VAT) is payable in the first instance for the highway boundary enquiry. Once it is established that the area of interest forms part of the public highway, customers will need to email Searches@cambridgeshire.gov.uk with a plan to identify the area for stopping up.
  • The team will then begin the internal consultations for an agreement in principle to the proposal, including a number of preliminary checks within the Highways Service.  There is a non-refundable fee of £307.20 (inc VAT) for this stage.
  • If the County Council have agreed in principle and the customer has undertaken their pre- application consultations, a non-refundable fee of £768 (inc VAT) must be paid upon the submission of the application.
  • Further fees will be payable for Stage 3 of the process, which covers the statutory legal process and Court costs. These fees are generally between £5,000 - £6,000+ (plus any additional officer time at £76.80/hr including VAT as required). This may increase if issues arise during the process of the application.

This will depend on various factors that affect the highway and whether the land is still required for highway purposes. For example, if the land forms part of a sight line at a junction, then the County Council would not consider any application to stop up the highway, or may only consider stopping up a reduced area in order to retain adequate visibility. Applicants will be advised if this is the case.

The Asset Information Searches Officer will liaise with relevant colleagues to confirm a general extent in principle as part of the internal consultations. The exact extent to be stopped up will be determined after an application is made and a site visit undertaken.

If after reading this guide a customer wishes to proceed, they will need to establish the extent of the highway maintainable at public expense by submitting a highway boundary enquiry.

This can be done using the online form on our highway searches page.

The stopping up of a highway is a public process in which various bodies are consulted and have the opportunity to comment or object on any application. As such the County Council cannot guarantee the success of any application.

It is the County Council who decides whether or not to make an application on behalf of the applicant to the Magistrates Court and it reserves the right to withdraw an application if it becomes apparent that it is unlikely to be successful.

Costs incurred to date will still be payable by the applicant if an application is withdrawn or if an application is unsuccessful.

Applications can be made to the Secretary of State under Section 247 and 248 of the Town & Country Planning Act 1990, to stop up or divert highways to enable development to be undertaken in accordance with a valid and relevant planning permission. Applications may also include the provision of new or improved highways.

Should you wish to enquire about stopping up an area of highway, please contact us for advice using the above online application form or write to:

Highways Asset Information Team
STA2101
Highways Depot
Stanton House
Stanton Way
Huntingdon
PE29 6PY