Pre-application advice
We provide advice on measures to mitigate the impact that any proposed development will have on the road network. This includes advising planning authorities when a development will affect the highway.
We recognise the value of early engagement with developers and other stakeholders. This can enable a clear understanding between relevant parties of what facilities and infrastructure will be necessary to support development.
We encourage pre-application discussions on these matters at the earliest opportunity as this can help identify key considerations earlier, paving the way to a quicker and smoother planning application process.
For developers seeking highways pre-application advice and details about charges go to our Developing new communities page.
General principles for development (Adopted 7th March 2023)
The following document outlines the County Council’s expectations and basic standards in relation to adoptable highway infrastructure, and new developments affecting the public highway.
Please see the following frequently asked questions detailing the process of how a private estate road can become adopted as highway maintainable at public expense.
Estate road adoption
Further advice on the adoption of new and existing streets is available on the Department for Transport Website.
To apply for a Section 38 (new highway for adoption by the County Council) or Section 106/278 (works altering existing highway) agreement, please refer to the relevant instructions below, supplying all the requested documents. Short Form S278 Agreements may be used for minor highway works not exceeding 50k, which do not require independent Road Safety Audit or the dedication of land as public highway. All Works must conform to our construction specifications.
All designs submitted as part of a Section 278, 38 or 106 application should be sent directly to Development Management.
All road safety audit requests should be passed through the Development Management Engineer dealing with your application. See our road safety audit page for more information on this process.
Housing estate road construction specification (Adopted 7th March 2023)
Construction intended for adoption must comply with the current Housing Estate Road Construction Specification (HERCS).
Highway designs should embrace the principles in the Manual for Streets (MfS). Please note that some dimensions contained within the MfS documents are not suitable for adoption by the County Council, as set out in the ‘General Principles for Development’ document.
To discuss adoption requirements for a given development please contact the Highway Development Management Team by email HighwaysDevelopment.Management@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.
AutoCad files of the drawings contained within the current HERCS Appendices are available at the following link. You will require specific software to view such documents a basic Autodesk
Viewer can be downloaded from the internet.
Commuted Sums Policy (Adopted 7th March 2023)
Following the Highways and Transport Committee of the above date, the County Council adopted the attached Commuted Sum Policy for new highway infrastructure works. It is proposed that the Commuted Sums Policy will be implemented from 1st April 2023. However, officers will exercise some discretion in the application of the policy during the period to 1st August 2023. This will facilitate communications to developers during the transitional period.
S38 Agreement bond sums
From February 2023 Bond sums or security deposits for new housing estate road infrastructure will be based upon the following standard linear metre rates.
Carriageway (including adjacent footways): £1676.00 per linear metre
Cycleway: £453.00 per linear metre
Footpath: £352.00 per linear metre
Signal design
To discuss and receive our latest specification please email signals@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.
Bridges
The assessment of structures within proposed highway will incur additional charges. To discuss your requirements please contact highways@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.
Street lighting
Street lighting must comply to the latest specification as found in the council's Highways policies. Following the submission of S278/ S38 engineering details to Highway Development Management, the engineer will review the extent of the works to ensure compliance with the principles of the planning permission and that the adoptable extent is correct (in relation to new housing estate roads). The submission will then be passed to the Street Lighting Team to issue a Design Brief for the street lighting design.
The current street lighting specification can be viewed here.
Please note that developers are responsible for all energy charges until adoption takes place.