Road Centre Lines

It is not uncommon for house plots, particularly in urban settings, to extend to the centre line of the road. The full extent of the plot may be shown on a deed plan or, if the deed is a previously recorded deed, described in the deed with a full bounding description.

Mapping to the centre line of the road

Care should be taken that the correct extent of the house plot is accurately mapped onto the cadastral map as the cadastral unit.

  • The dimensions of the cadastral unit should be taken from the deed for extent (taking into account the tolerances of the OS base map in that area).

  • Use the tools in the Toolbar in the Plan Creator to accurately plot the boundary in its legal position.

  • On the OS base map in the DMS, a grey line feature was shown in the middle of roads - this was not an accurate representation of the centre line of the road but was simply an approximation, and was used by the OS to associate attribute data to the road. The position of the grey line feature was not normally moved or updated by the OS when they moved or updated the surrounding details. The grey line feature does not show on prints or on authorised versions of cadastral unit extracts/title plans in ScotLIS. On the OS basemap in the Plan Creator, the former grey line feature is no longer shown.


  • Existing cadastral units which extend to the road centre line should not have been mapped to the grey line feature unless the extent of the cadastral unit, based on the dimensions shown/described in the deed for extent, coincided with the grey line.


Current registration competing with an existing registration in the centre of the road?

Occasionally, an application will be received to register a house plot that overlaps with an existing registration that has been wrongly mapped to coincide with the grey line feature. Although this is a competition in title and should result in automatic rejection of the current application, in some instances it may be possible for the keeper to resolve the matter without the need to charge the current applicant a rejection fee and incur the time and costs involved with researching and applying for rectification of the existing title. This will not be possible in all instances, however. Whilst it should not be common practice to investigate competing titles before rejection, if you believe that a competition in title has been caused by the Keeper incorrectly increasing the extent of a cadastral unit so that its boundary plotted onto the OS grey line feature, refer your application to a plans referral officer. The referral officer, once they have confirmed that the existing registration has been incorrectly mapped, should refer to a Senior Plans Advisor who will liaise with Rectifications and consider whether rectification is appropriate or whether the current application should be rejected after all.


Registers of Scotland (RoS) seeks to ensure that the information published in the 2012 Act Registration Manual is up to date and accurate but it may be amended from time to time.
The Manual is an internal document intended for RoS staff only. The information in the Manual does not constitute legal or professional advice and RoS cannot accept any liability for actions arising from its use.
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