A group tasked with encouraging access to the Cheshire East countryside is calling on house owners in rural areas to stop obstructing the verges outside their homes.
Cheshire East Local Access Forum (CELAF) pointed out that roadside verges are generally part of the highway and only very rarely belong to the properties which they front.
It says that putting large stones, posts or chain fences on verges is a potentially dangerous practice and prevents cyclists, horse riders, carriage drivers and disability vehicle users from using them as a refuge when faced with hazards.
The Chairman of CELAF, Bob Anderson, adds: "Home owners may not be aware that they are technically obstructing part of the highway. We understand that people wish to make the front of their homes look smart and don't want vehicles parking on the verge. However, the verges serve an important safety purpose and the house owners' behaviour impacts on other road users, to their detriment. We have been told that farmers too are unhappy about the practice because it means they are unable to get large agricultural vehicles partially off the road to allow other traffic to pass."
"Local authorities have the right to order the removal of verge obstructions and in some parts of the country they take firm action against offenders. We are appealing to the people of Cheshire East who have put obstructions on the verges outside their homes to remove them in the interests of the safety of people who need to use rural roads."
A spokesman for Cheshire East Council's Highways Department said: "The Highway Authority has powers to remove stones, posts, railings etc. which are placed in the highway and are considered to be a hazard or obstruction. The enforcement process involves serving formal notice to the householder requesting removal. If no action is taken, we can then take a complaint to the magistrates court."
Comments
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It is not only in the centre of the village where this is a problem. Where I live on Knutsford Road, Alderley Edge we regularly have to walk on the very busy road because people think it is appropriate to park blocking the pavement even where there are double yellow lines leading away from the mini roundabout at the bottom of Brook Lane. My drive is frequently blocked as well by people parking over all or most of it.
It is just more of the thoughtless, illegal and downright dangerous self-interest shown by some people who seem to deem walking a few yards or a few dozen yards as more than they can be bothered to do...
I ride a motorcycle and last year I was thrown into a verge by a big white van. It was a relatively soft landing and all I got was a broken arm. Had there been any posts, stones or chain fences in that particular verge the outcome might not have been so favourable. I could also see that the potential personal injury claim against the person who illegally placed them there might be quite expensive.
I am not sure what the answer is.
Common sense surely must prevail ( as other threads allude ) As Sir Humprey Appleby himself said “It takes two to quango"
But I would add a point regarding another form of obstruction by property owners:
Whilst our local representatives continue to obsess over pathway widths outside restaurants there is no apparent concern for the progressive narrowing of pathways caused by expanding hedges and other pathside growth.
There are many paths in Alderley which are now barely wide enough for one able bodied person to walk along, let alone wheelchair or baby buggy users and certainly not by people passing in opposite directions without stepping into the street.
Perhaps a different path to maintaining voter confidence is required?
I cut the verge for pedestrians to use the other day and a van pulled onto it.
Wilmslow has won gold award for its beautiful appearance.
Bob Anderson please have a wander from Alderley railway bridge to St. Philips Church and then decide why we are desperate to tidy up the village. All ages having to walk onto or close to the road because of overgrown stinging nettles and hedges.
1. Some time ago I asked CEC who owned the verges along the bottom of Macc. Rd. (this was to do with trying to get yellow lines there) and I was told that CEC owned them all.
2. The greenery thrusting forth from the various pieces of land along London Rd. from Ryleys Lane into the village. The steep piece of land from the road down into the park (usually called the Embankment) does not seem to be owned by anyone. Some time ago I asked both the Railway people and CEC, who both denied ownership. I seem to recall that someone checked with the Land Registry, where there was no claim.
At the time, that particular Gordian Knot was cut by the Parish Council paying to have a mega-trim carried out. The Parks Officers kindly removed all the cut greenery without charge. Perhaps that could all be repeated?
The much smaller amount of greenery on the village side of the rail bridge was last cut by the employee of the Parish Council (Nigel). Perhaps that also could be repeated?