Remedy
Start free

Section 281B: Power to provide for fees for certain services

Highways Act 1980 · 1980 c. 66View on legislation.gov.uk

Part XIII: Financial Provisions

The appropriate national authority may by regulations make provision for, or in connection with, the charging of fees to highway authorities by prescribed public authorities, in relation to the provision of relevant services.

A "relevant service" means any advice, information or other assistance (including a response to a consultation) provided, whether or not to a highway authority, in connection with—

an order made, or proposed to be made, under Part 2, 6 or 12, or
any other prescribed matter relating to any of those Parts.

The regulations under subsection (1) may, in particular, make provision—

about when a fee (including a supplementary fee) may, and may not, be charged;
about the amount which may be charged;
about what may, and may not, be taken into account in calculating the amount charged;
about which highway authority is liable to pay a fee charged;
about when a fee charged is payable;
about the recovery of fees charged;
about waiver, reduction or repayment of fees;
about the effect of paying or failing to pay fees charged (including provision permitting a prescribed public authority to withhold a relevant service that it would otherwise be required to provide under an enactment until any outstanding fees for that service are paid);
for the supply of information for any purpose of the regulations;
conferring a function, including a function involving the exercise of a discretion, on any person.

A prescribed public authority must have regard to—

any guidance published by the Secretary of State in relation to the exercise of the authority's functions under regulations made under this section by the Secretary of State;
any guidance published by the Welsh Ministers in relation to the exercise of the authority's functions under regulations made under this section by the Welsh Ministers.

Regulations under this section may make—

different provision for different purposes or areas;
incidental, consequential, supplementary, transitional or transitory provision or savings.

In this section—

  • "appropriate national authority" means—in relation to England, the Secretary of State, andin relation to Wales, the Welsh Ministers;

  • "prescribed" means prescribed by regulations made by the appropriate national authority under this section;

  • "public authority" means any person certain of whose functions are of a public nature.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.