A couple of weeks ago I reported on residents’ concerns about a letter they’d received from a highways engineer demanding that they install pavement crossing points (dropped kerbs) outside their properties in Station Road, Blackhall Rocks at their own expense.
Understandably residents were alarmed, both at the tone of the letter and also the demand that they should fork out for works that weren’t their reponsibility. Consequently they contacted me to see what I could do to help put things right.
Full background details can be found in the article I published on 22 August: https://robcrute-blackhall.blogspot.com/2023/08/unacceptable-response-to-footpath.html
Since then I've been in touch with the highways engineering team to ask them to find a way round this issue, and as a result I met on site this morning with the team manager so that I could put the case on behalf of residents and also to enable him to see for himself what the issue was all about from a resident’s perspective.
By way of an update, the highways manager has agreed that because the properties on the north side of Station Road are largely owned and maintained by Believe Housing the company themselves should be responsible for installing dropped kerbs, rather than their tenants having to install them at their own expense.
The council has now agreed to contact officers at Believe Housing to arrange for any necessary works to be carried out by the company. I've also asked the highways team to write again to individual tenants in Station Road to correct their previous approach and assure residents that they will not be held financially responsible for installing dropped kerbs outside their homes.
Residents should receive those letters shortly, but in the meantime if anyone has concerns about any of the issues raised in this post please get in touch with me at: rob.crute@durham.gov.uk
