The ownership of boundary walls can be very difficult to establish and there is a common thought that the owner of a wall is determined by the person that gets a benefit from it. This can have a bearing on responsibility for maintenance but does not conclusively determine ownership. Other factors such as the age of the wall, the reason for its original construction, entries on title deeds etc must be taken into account.

We have an over arching responsibility to ensure that the user of the highway is not put at risk during the normal course of events and so, we will investigate any concerns over the stability of a structure that could threaten the highway. This will include:

• Investigation into the ownership
• Undertaking works on our own structures or serving notice on the owner to correct any defect
• Making an area adjacent to an insecure structure safe with temporary traffic management

If you have concerns over a structure, please tell us.