Multi-authority unadopted-roads packs — sources

authorities/
  index.json
  sources.md
  somerset.json
  suffolk.json
  norfolk.json
  durham.json
  birmingham.json
  essex.json

# Multi-authority unadopted-roads packs — sources

Compiled: **29 September 2026** (Essex, Leeds, Surrey and Lancashire packs added; Europe/London). Prior packs: **28 September 2026** (Europe/London).  
Schema template: `/workspace/uk-housebuilders/somerset-unadopted.json` (fields: `compiled`, `explainer`, `authority`, `lists[]`, `sites_or_roads[]`, `summary_stats[]`, `gaps[]`).  
Registry: `authorities/index.json` (`schema_version`: 2).

## Nine authorities (ready)

| id | Authority | Region | Why included | lists | sites_or_roads |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | ---: | ---: |
| `somerset` | Somerset Council | South West | Unitary pack already compiled; List of Streets + Adopted Highway GIS + Lead Member 939 agreements | 7 | 12 |
| `suffolk` | Suffolk County Council | East of England | Strongest public FOI: EIR 26878 (331 CW/FW rows with builders/bonds) + EIR 26649 live S38/S278 (433) + List of Streets | 6 | 15 |
| `norfolk` | Norfolk County Council | East of England | Open Unadopted Roads GIS (5,305 features / ~651.2 km) + Adopted Roads GIS + List of Streets Excel | 6 | 6 |
| `durham` | Durham County Council | North East | HMP inventory adopted/unadopted split (135 km unadopted roads @ 31 Mar 2025) + Adopted Highways map + open shapefile | 6 | 3 |
| `birmingham` | Birmingham City Council | West Midlands | Downloadable HMPE List of Streets XLSX (7,959 rows as of 18 Aug 2026) + s.38/APC/searches pages; strongest bulk list among Birmingham / Herts / Kent / Hampshire / Leeds options checked | 6 | 2 |
| `essex` | Essex County Council | East of England | Strongest next bulk public source: 12 district S36 PDFs tagging Private Road/Private Street/S38 (3,373 private rows extracted) + Highways Information Map + DM s.38/s.278 portal + Newhall named multi-builder adoption update | 6 | 10 |
| `leeds` | Leeds City Council | Yorkshire and the Humber | Official street register plus live Site Development S38 ArcGIS layer (27 current GIS feature records); Leeds publishes S38 deposit/legal-fee and bond-release rules, but no builder/bond schedule | 6 | 4 |
| `surrey` | Surrey County Council | South East | Official Roads-under-agreement-to-adopt ArcGIS layer (367 feature records; 365 privately maintained / 2 Highways England) plus S38/private-road policy | 5 | 4 |
| `lancashire` | Lancashire County Council | North West | Highway Management Plan confirms statutory List of Streets and MARIO map; official estate-road adoption process and bond/12-month observation guidance, but no public bulk unadopted schedule found | 5 | 2 |

**Fifth-authority pick (28 Sep):** Birmingham over Hertfordshire / Kent / Hampshire / Leeds options then checked.

**Seventh–ninth authority picks (29 Sep):** Leeds, Surrey and Lancashire were added as honest partial packs. Leeds has a live official Site Development S38 GIS layer (27 feature records); Surrey has a live Roads-under-agreement-to-adopt layer (367 feature records); Lancashire has official MARIO/List-of-Streets entry points and an estate-road adoption process, but no public bulk unadopted schedule found in this run.

## Method

Prefer official List of Streets, adopted-highway GIS, FOI/EIR disclosure PDFs, democracy/HMP reports. Never invent sites, builders or bond values. Label neighbouring highway authorities when mentioned. Counts below are of JSON array entries in each pack, not network km.

## Per-authority primary sources

### Somerset (`somerset.json`)
Copied from `somerset-unadopted.json` / `somerset-sources.md`. Key URLs: List of Streets / road records; Explore Somerset Adopted Highway; Lead Member Annual Report Dec 2025 (939 agreements); residential road development (s.38/APC); FindMyStreet; North Somerset adopted highways (labelled separate); HBF 2026 national.

### Suffolk (`suffolk.json`)
| Source | URL |
| --- | --- |
| EIR 26878 Unadopted roads PDF | https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/asset-library/councillor-assets/foi-responses/26878-Unadopted-roads.pdf |
| EIR 26649 Live S38 & S278 PDF | https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/asset-library/councillor-assets/foi-responses/26649-Live-S38-S278-agreements.pdf |
| Highways & private roads / List of Streets | https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/highway-maintenance/road-adoption/highways-and-private-roads |
| Example district List of Streets | https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/asset-library/2026-09-01-ipswich-list-of-streets.pdf |
| FindMyStreet | https://www.findmystreet.co.uk/street-list |

### Norfolk (`norfolk.json`)
| Source | URL |
| --- | --- |
| Unadopted Roads GIS layer | https://maps.norfolk.gov.uk/arcgis/rest/services/services/highways_tablets/MapServer/36 |
| Adopted Roads GIS layer | https://maps.norfolk.gov.uk/arcgis/rest/services/layers_ext/where_i_live/MapServer/31 |
| highways_tablets MapServer | https://maps.norfolk.gov.uk/arcgis/rest/services/services/highways_tablets/MapServer |
| Adopted and private roads (List of Streets Excel) | https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/article/39754/Adopted-and-private-roads |
| New roads (s.38) | https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/article/39756/New-roads |

GIS query results (2026-09-28): Unadopted count **5305**, length sum **~651,196 m**; Adopted Roads **33585**; Maintainable Private Roads **3**; Non Maintained Public Highway **234**.

### Durham (`durham.json`)
| Source | URL |
| --- | --- |
| HMP Inventory | https://www.durham.gov.uk/article/36781/Inventory |
| Adopted Highways map | https://www.durham.gov.uk/adoptedhighways |
| Road adoption agreements | https://www.durham.gov.uk/article/3421/Road-adoption-agreements |
| Adopted Highways shapefile (Data Mill North) | https://datamillnorth.org/dataset/adopted-highways-2gw5q |
| RLS 3052 UCR 18.3 decision | https://democracy.durham.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?Id=13331 |

Inventory @ 31 Mar 2025: adopted roads **3,833 km**; unadopted roads **135 km**; unadopted footpaths **244 km**.

### Birmingham (`birmingham.json`)
| Source | URL |
| --- | --- |
| List of Highways Maintained at Public Expense | https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/downloads/download/851/list_of_highways_maintained_at_public_expense |
| Direct XLSX file | https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/downloads/file/3926/list_of_highways_maintained_at_public_expense |
| Section 38 agreements | https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/info/20111/information_for_developers/484/creation_of_new_public_highways_section_38_agreements |
| APC (s.38 path /2) | https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/info/20111/information_for_developers/484/creation_of_new_public_highways_section_38_agreements/2 |
| Highways Searches disclaimer | https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/info/20111/information_for_developers/571/request_a_highways_search/4 |
| Historic press ~1,500 unadopted | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/moves-to-adopt-roads-66320 |

XLSX opened 2026-09-28: **7,959** street-name rows; document properties **as of 18 August 2026**.


### Leeds (`leeds.json`)
| Source | URL |
| --- | --- |
| Street register | https://www.leeds.gov.uk/parking-roads-and-travel/street-register |
| Section 38 — before you apply | https://www.leeds.gov.uk/parking-roads-and-travel/licences-and-permits/section-38-agreements |
| Section 38 — application stages | https://www.leeds.gov.uk/parking-roads-and-travel/licences-and-permits/section-38-agreements/application-stages |
| Site Development S38 works ArcGIS layer | https://mapservices.leeds.gov.uk/arcgis/rest/services/Public/Annual_Programme/MapServer/3 |

GIS query (2026-09-29): **27** current feature records; all 27 queried promoter fields show `Civil Engineering`. This is a feature count, not a site/road/builder count. Leeds guidance publishes a **£5,000** initial deposit, **£2,529** legal fee per agreement, and **50% + 25% + 25%** bond release sequence.

### Surrey (`surrey.json`)
| Source | URL |
| --- | --- |
| Roads under agreement to adopt ArcGIS layer | https://sccmaps.surreycc.gov.uk/webmaps/rest/services/Highways_Information/Agreement_roads/MapServer/0 |
| Road adoption and private roads | https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/policies-plans-consultations/policies-and-plans/road-adoption-and-private-roads |
| Road adoptions under S38 | https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/land-planning-and-development/planning/transport-development/road-adoptions |

GIS query (2026-09-29): **367** feature records, grouped as **365 Privately maintained** and **2 Highways England**. This is not a unique-site or bond count. Surrey S38 policy says roads should serve **6 or more residential curtilages (or equivalent)** or have wider public utility.

### Lancashire (`lancashire.json`)
| Source | URL |
| --- | --- |
| MARIO interactive map | https://mario.lancashire.gov.uk/ |
| Highway Management Plan (v1.4, February 2025) | https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/media/p51jfnq1/highway-management-plan-amended-may-2023.pdf |
| Estate road adoption | https://lancashire.gov.uk/roads-parking-and-travel/roads/road-adoptions/estate-road-adoption/ |

The HMP says the statutory List of Streets is held in textual, map and digital form and points users to MARIO. The wider highway service offer is **approximately 7,000 km** across **12 districts**; this is not an unadopted-road figure. The estate-road page says final observation is **usually 12 months** (sometimes shorter) and explains insurance bonds, but no countywide builder/bond schedule was found.

### Essex (`essex.json`)
| Source | URL |
| --- | --- |
| Who is responsible for my road? (S36 district PDFs) | https://www.essexhighways.org/roads-and-pavements/who-is-responsible-for-my-road |
| Highways Information Map | https://www.essexhighways.org/highways-information-map |
| Development Management Legal Agreement Portal | https://www.essexhighways.org/highway-schemes-and-developments/adoptions-and-land/development-management-portal |
| Advance Payments Code notice | https://www.essexhighways.org/highway-schemes-and-developments/adoptions-and-land/advance-payments-code-notice |
| Adoptions and land hub | https://www.essexhighways.org/highway-schemes-and-developments/adoptions-and-land |
| Newhall road adoption update (named builders) | https://newhallofficial.co.uk/newhall-road-adoption-update |
| London Road Newhall completed scheme | https://www.essexhighways.org/highway-schemes-and-developments/completed-schemes/completed-harlow-schemes/london-road-newhall-harlow |
| FindMyStreet | https://www.findmystreet.co.uk/street-list |

S36 extract (pdftotext STATUS parse, 2026-09-29): PRIVATE ROAD **2,857**; PRIVATE STREET **516**; combined private **3,373**; UNCLASSIFIED HMPE **15,002**; S38 STATUS rows **0** in the 12 files (classification defined on page). PDF headers: Information Correct at **01-APR-2026**.

## Cross-cutting / national
- HBF *Slow Lane to Adoption* 2026: https://www.hbf.co.uk/documents/15904/2026_Highways_report.pdf
- Parliament SN00402 private/unadopted roads: https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN00402/SN00402.pdf
- FindMyStreet NSG: https://www.findmystreet.co.uk/street-list

## Pack file layout
```
authorities/
  index.json
  sources.md
  somerset.json
  suffolk.json
  norfolk.json
  durham.json
  birmingham.json
  essex.json
```

## Gaps (pack-wide)
- Metrics are **not comparable** across authorities (FOI site rows vs GIS km vs inventory km vs adopted street rows).
- Builder+bond detail is abundant only for **Suffolk**; others are inventory/GIS/List-of-Streets proxies.
- Cloudflare blocked some council HTML (e.g. Norfolk article body) at compile; ArcGIS REST and known download URLs still used.
- Original root `somerset-unadopted.json` retained; `authorities/somerset.json` is a copy for the scalable registry.

## England map expansion (29 Sep 2026)

- Bundled GeoJSON: `site/geo/england-highway-authorities.geojson` from ONS *Counties and Unitary Authorities (December 2025) Boundaries UK BSC* (England only, `CTYUA25CD LIKE 'E%'`), Open Government Licence / OS.
- `authorities/index.json` schema_version 2: **153** England highway authorities (21 counties, 63 unitaries, 36 metropolitan districts, 33 London boroughs).
- **Ready packs (9):** somerset, suffolk, norfolk, durham, birmingham, essex, leeds, surrey, lancashire — full or partial official-source JSON packs.
**29 Sep additions:** Leeds (27 S38 GIS features; £5,000 deposit; £2,529 legal fee), Surrey (367 agreement-layer features; 365 privately maintained / 2 Highways England), Lancashire (MARIO/List of Streets and adoption process; no local backlog count).
- **Pending (144):** mapped with hover/click; panel shows FindMyStreet + HBF national links only — **no invented unadopted counts**.
- **29 Sep 2026 site UI:** Vistry deep-dive removed; major sections wrapped in pastel cards with black borders; abstract pastel SVG illustrations added under `site/img/` (labelled illustration-only).