Fwd: Highways Issues requiring attention

Dear David,

The Parish Council requests your attention to resolve the issues raised in the following letter from the Chairman of the Parish Council to yourself on behalf of the Parish Council.

Dear David,

I am disappointed not to have this conversation face to face or at a Parish Council meeting. I appreciate the level of your commitments however these issues, listed below, need resolving. I am not receiving responses to emails and there is no tangible activity to resolve the issues.  Can you please look at this?

Coley Hill
On the 5th May 2022 I met with you and Dine to discuss Coley Hill.  We agreed work was required and that drainage, resurfacing, arboreal work and stabilisation of the embankment was needed. Subsequently some good work on drainage and limited resurfacing was done. Sadly much was not done causing some of the good work to be undone. No arboreal work or stabilisation of the embankment has been undertake causing repeated tree falls and mudslides adding to the drainage issues. The theory of allowing the water to erode it’s own path down the hill is poorly executed and unacceptable. Erosion does not stop when you would like it to, it will continue to wear away the road edge and the embankment reducing the road width and undercutting the embankment making it even more unstable. This erosion also creates a trip hazard for pedestrians and a wheel trap for motorists, fitting posts only reduces road width and causes other issues.

Flooding Back Lane
We met in February and again in March to discuss the flooding in Back Lane. As a result of the meeting I was asked to clarify the issue of site access with local land owners which I duly did. This resulted in what can only be described as a half-hearted response at best. You will remember that the drains in question are interconnected and are both sides of the road. Both are heavily silted up. One side was cleared but all the mud removed was piled up next to the still blocked drain just waiting for the next down pour to wash it back. The opposite drain was left completely blocked. When I questioned this I was told that further action was needed but no action has been taken.

Litton Lane
In April this year I and others reported a dangerous set of potholes on the southern end of Litton Lane after some time an ‘emergency’ repair was carried out. I can only describe the work as of an embarrassingly poor quality; I cannot believe someone was paid to do this work. The area awaits a proper repair.

These are not all the highways issues in Hinton Blewett; there is still flooding in Hook Lane, parts of Middle Rd, south end of Lower Rd and the approach to the village the carriageway is worn down to the foundations. However the three above are the most pressing.

I can’t help feeling a hill in the middle of Bath wouldn’t be in this state nor would the mud from a blocked drain be left to refill the drain and I don’t think the Council would endure the embarrassment of press and social media coverage of such a poor quality ‘emergency’ repair work.

Can you please see if you can move any of these issues forward?

Yours sincerely,

David Duckett, on behalf of Hinton Blewett Parish Council.