Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Dropped Kerbs update

After looking further into this issue I can confirm that it is the law of the land that dictates that residents must provide dropped kerbs in front of their driveways, and although some council houses have dropped kerbs, allegedly provided by previous authorities, some have not, ultimately a proper form of access over the footpath is required, and unfortunately it is the responsibility of the householder to provide that access.

Originally it was the wording and aggressive tone of a letter from the East Riding of Yorkshire Council (as detailed previously)regarding the dropped kerb issue that had caused the anxiety amongst the residents who had received it. I have now had it confirmed that there will be no further letters sent out to residents until it has been redrafted.

It is a credit to the residents of Eastrington's Pinfold Street that they have been able to form their our community group, to work together in order to minimise the cost to install dropped kerbs at the front of their properties. The costs are reduced by only having to submit the one joint planning application and benefiting from the economies of scale gained by using one contractor to carry out all the work.

Residents who continue to use their drives should be mindful of their liability for any damage to underground services in the footpath caused by vehicular movements above, and although using unauthorised accesses across the footpath is still technically illegal, I would hope the council would not be rushing out to fine residents, particularly if they have already made contact with the council in reply to the original letter.

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