Highways Act 1980 wrote: (2) Outside Greater London the council of a county or metropolitan district are the highway authority for all highways in the county or, as the case may be, the district, whether or not maintainable at the public expense, which are not highways for which under subsection (1) or (1A) above the Minister or a strategic highways company is the highway authority.
(2A) Transport for London is the highway authority for all GLA roads.
(3) The council of a London borough or the Common Council are the highway authority for all highways in the borough or, as the case may be, in the City, whether or not maintainable at the public expense, which are not for the time being GLA roads or highways for which under subsection (1) or (1A) above the Minister or a strategic highways company is the highway authority.
So, who can be a Highway Authority outside Greater London according to the Act? Clearly it's:
* The council of a [administrative] county
* A metropolitan district.
And that's it.
So why is this at all interesting? Well, so-called "Unitary Authorities", that's where. As discussed before, those bodies colloquially known as "Unitary Authorities" come in three flavours:
1. An administrative county with one county council and no district councils (such as Shropshire)
2. An administrative county with no county council and one district council (such as Stoke-on-Trent)
3. An administrative county with no county council and several district councils (such as the Berkshire authorities).
They have to be this way because of the extremely silly way the 1972 Local Government Act is written, which basically says that a county council has to be responsible for its entire area, hence places like Derby and Nottingham are actually separate administrative counties from Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. For example, the Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole (Structural Changes) Order 2018 states:
Clearly, BCP Council is a district council, and there is no council of a [administrative] county within the county of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. But looking at the text of the Highways Act, it's clear that non-metropolitan district authorities cannot legally be a Highway Authority. There is no council of a county for BCP, and hence no legal Highway Authority...Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole (Structural Changes) Order 2018 wrote:Single tier local government in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
3.—(1) A new non-metropolitan county and a new non-metropolitan district, each to be known as Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, are constituted comprising (in each case) the areas of the districts of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.
(2) In relation to the county of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, section 2(1) of the 1972 Act (which provides that every county shall have a council) does not apply.
(3) A new district council, to be known as Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, is established as the sole principal authority for the non-metropolitan district of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.