Highway boundary searches and highway extent.
Find out exactly where the public highway ends before you design an access, buy a site or rely on visibility over a verge.
Also known as: highway boundary search, highway extent plan, adopted highway boundary, ransom strip access, highway land search
What’s included.
Visibility splays, footways and off-site works are only deliverable over land that is highway or that you control. Many sites have a gap between the boundary and the adopted highway, which can become a ransom strip. A highway boundary search, requested from the highway authority, shows where the adopted highway runs.
- Highway extent requests to the council
- Overlay with the site boundary and title plans
- Checks for gaps and potential ransom strips
- Visibility splays over highway land
- Advice on alternatives if there is a gap
- Input for your solicitor
Straightforward, proportionate, agreed early.
Before you commit
Run the search at appraisal stage, before the site price or the layout relies on it.
Plotted clearly
Highway extent, title boundaries and splays on one drawing, so the risk is obvious.
Alternatives
If there is a gap, we look for an access design that avoids it, and flag the legal question for your solicitor.
Questions we get asked
How do I find the highway boundary?
By requesting highway extent information from the highway authority. Many charge a fee and take a few weeks.
Is the highway boundary the same as ownership?
Not necessarily. The adopted highway is about public rights and maintenance. Ownership of the land beneath can be different, which is a question for your solicitor.
What if there is a ransom strip?
We look at whether the access can be redesigned to avoid it. If not, it becomes a legal and commercial question to resolve early.
Often needed alongside.
Last reviewed October 2026 by Ripple Development Planning. Policy and guidance change; for advice on a specific site, send us the details.
From our insights.
Need help with highway boundary searches?
Send us the location and what's proposed. We'll tell you what it needs, with a fixed fee.