Advance Payments Code Notice (APC)

Sections 219 - 225 of the Highways Act 1980 

The Advance Payments Code (APC) applies to the whole of Essex.

An Advance Payments Code Notice will be served by the Highway Authority on the landowner (or the person erecting the dwellings if different) following approval (Full Plans, Full Plans subject to conditions) or acceptance (Initial Notice, Building Notice) of any Building Regulations application where the site consists of more than five dwellings or is capable of serving more.

The Highway Authority has six weeks from the date of the above Building Regulation documents to issue the notice. It ensures that before building work starts that a sum of money will be deposited with the Highway Authority (Essex County Council) by the land owner (or the person erecting the dwellings if different). This reduces the liability on any future purchasers if their street is not finished for any reason. When development has reached a certain stage, frontages are able to require the carrying out of street works and adoption of the street(s). This is described in Section 219 to 225 of the Highways Act 1980.

The APC Notice will also be registered on the Local Land Charges Register and is transferred with the land if the whole development, or a part of it, is subsequently sold.

The APC deposits are returned and the local Land Charge Authority notified if a Highways Act 1980 Section 38 Agreement is entered into. This is because the Section 38 provides for the adoption of the street(s) and has its own Surety.

If the Developer wishes the development to remain private then the Highway Authority will normally require the Developer to enter into a Town and Country Planning Act 1990 Section 106 Unilateral Undertaking that obliges the Developer to ensure that all purchasers are party to a management company maintaining the private roads.

Householders must also be advised that the Highway Authority will ultimately have no obligation to make the roads up and maintain them at public expense.

For further information please see the Development Construction Manual or email the Development Management team.