Renfrewshire Council

Road adoption is when a private road becomes public

Road adoption is the process for a privately-owned road to become a public road, which the council then manages and maintains. There are two main scenarios when this can happen:

• when developers build a road to serve a new housing development
• when the owner of a private road requests the council to adopt their road.

New housing developments

Any development with six or more houses requires a road, according to the National Roads Development Guide.

The process for new developments

The road adoption process for new developments usually includes these steps:

1. The developer enters into a construction consent agreement with Renfrewshire Council.
2. The construction consent clarifies the extent of the adopted roads and the construction standards that the developer must follow when designing and building the road.
3. Once the developer has constructed the road to the required standards, we enter a one-year maintenance period. Before the maintenance period ends, the developer must repair any defects at their expense.
4. Once the developer has presented the completed road to the council using our CC5 form, we'll add the road to our list of public roads.

Road bonds

Any road that serves a housing development (other than social housing) also requires a road bond.

A road bond is a sum of money or security that a developer must lodge with the council before the work starts. We'll set the bond aside in case the road isn't completed (in the event of the developer's insolvency) or if the road is completed but not built to the correct standard. We can then call in the bond to do the work the contractor failed to do.

We can release portions of the road bond as a developer finishes different phase of work, as long as the work is completed to a satisfactory standard. This can help developers of large housing developments relieve the burden of having large sums of money held in road bonds for lengthy periods of time.

Private ownership

If you own a private road, or if your land joins onto a public road, you can request that the council adopts your road as a public road.

The road adoption process for private owners usually includes these steps:

1. The private owner enters into an agreement with Renfrewshire Council that the owner will improve the road, at their own expense, to an adoptable standard.
2. Once the owner has achieved this standard, we enter a one-year maintenance period. Before the maintenance period ends, the owner must repair any defects at their own expense.
3. Once the owner has presented the completed road to the council using our CC5 form, we'll add the road to our list of public roads.

Get in touch to begin the road adoption process

To begin the road adoption process, email us at ei@renfrewshire.gov.uk and provide:

• details of the location you would like us to adopt
• your contact information.

Read our full policy to learn more

Email us at ei@renfrewshire.gov.uk to request a copy of our full road adoption policy.

This document includes the full road adoption processes for housing developers and private owners. It also includes additional information about:

• emergency work related to private roads
• private footpaths and cycle routes
• flats and very large housing developments.

You can also request a copy of our road enforcement policy.