Walls

Generally, the walls and fences that surround property and fields are erected and maintained by the land owner. They are erected to provide security, privacy and to mark boundaries between different landowners. 

• The county council, as local highway authority, is usually liable to maintain the walls which are beneath the level of the highway and are necessary to support the highway, as part of its general duty to keep the highway in good repair.  The usual exemption would be where a wall has been built for the benefit of the adjoining landowners.              
  
  
• However, if a highway can be supported by stable side slope within the width of the wall’s structure then the wall is redundant as a retaining wall; it is simply a boundary wall and thus the liability of the adjacent landowner.   

If you want to report a wall or fence in a state of disrepair please use the Cumbria Highways hotline.

Cumbria Highways Hotline: 0845 609 6609

E-mail: contact@cumbriahighways.org.uk