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Highway and Infrastructure Adoptions


A range of national guidance exists about the design of residential developments.

The Manual for Streets (MfS)

MfS was published in March 2007. It provides guidance on new residential streets including:

  • design
  • construction
  • adoption
  • maintenance

It replaces the Design Bulletin 32 (DB32) and its companion document Places, Streets and Movement.

The Manual for Streets on the Government website

The Manual for Streets 2 (MfS2)

MfS2 builds on the principles set out by the MfS.

It also provides further guidance on busier streets and roads in both urban and rural locations.

The Manual for Streets 2 on the Government websiteMfS and MfS2 provide national guidance for all practitioners involved in the development planning process. The Council supports the approach set out in MfS and MfS2. However, we believe that clarification is required in some areas. This is to ensure that developers and applicants understand how MfS and MfS2 will be interpreted in Cornwall. 

MfS states: “highway and planning authorities have considerable leeway to develop local policies and standards.  As well as making technical judgements about how they are applied”.

The information contained within this section should be read in conjunction with MfS. The guidance aims to provide advice on how MfS is to be interpreted and applied within Cornwall. It replaces all previous Cornwall highway design guides. This approach is supported by the Council’s Planning Department.

Adoptions policy

Other links

Register for updates

You can register to receive direct updates when:

  • amendments to the above documents or policies are made
  • new documents are made available

To receive updates, please provide your email address to the Infrastructure Adoptions team.

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