Can I legally mend the paving slab in my road?

usignuolo

My front path ends in a stone step about 4 inches above the pavement below it. The pavement slabs are some sort of composite, put in by the council in a rather shoddy repair job in the distant past. Their pavement contractors clearly started by laying whole slabs from the road side of the pavement towards the house. This left a partial slab needed where it reaches my house step (just below the step up to my path). The contractors did not cut a large enough filler slab to fill the gap, and there is a 3-4 inch gap between where the partial paving slab ends and my front step upright starts.

At the time they filled this gap with a skim of cement. This long since cracked in winter frosts and got swept away. Now the gap is filled with earth and I am constantly having to weed it. I have asked the council if it can be fixed and been told there is no budget provision for mending the pavement in my road. So I should like to refill the gap myself with a more durable cement filler.

How do you suggest I do this and will it be legal to do it myself given the council did not do a proper job and are not prepared to correct it?

I_have_spoken

Definitely not. This would immediately make you liable for peeps 'tripping' in the hope of compo.

trollopscarletwoman

usignuolo wrote: »

My front path ends in a stone step about 4 inches above the pavement below it. The pavement slabs are some sort of composite, put in by the council in a rather shoddy repair job in the distant past. Their pavement contractors clearly started by laying whole slabs from the road side of the pavement towards the house. This left a partial slab needed where it reaches my house step (just below the step up to my path). The contractors did not cut a large enough filler slab to fill the gap, and there is a 3-4 inch gap between where the partial paving slab ends and my front step upright starts.

At the time they filled this gap with a skim of cement. This long since cracked in winter frosts and got swept away. Now the gap is filled with earth and I am constantly having to weed it. I have asked the council if it can be fixed and been told there is no budget provision for mending the pavement in my road. So I should like to refill the gap myself with a more durable cement filler.

How do you suggest I do this and will it be legal to do it myself given the council did not do a proper job and are not prepared to correct it?

Clearly the job was inadequate.

if you hadn't informed the council about it (and I understand why you did) I'd probably have cut a piece of slab with an angle grinder and cemented it in myself.

Now that the council know about it you might have to leave alone.

Totally unrelated to this but on the suing thing in my local football club a parent of a 13 year old is suing the club (of which the boy will still play for this season) because his toe got broken in training in a complete accident.

There you go.

Errata

Chuck some gravel in it - who's to know you did it?

greatgimpo

Errata wrote: »

Chuck some gravel in it - who's to know you did it?

... with thick membrane underneath and the occasional glysophate on top.

muckybutt

Buy a bag of cold lay tarmac and fill it in using that

geoffky

https://www.fixmystreet.com/ Here you go...it works..

the_matrix

No way my friend. Good job you asked. Someone would have sued you and taken your house.

usignuolo

There is a major problem with broken paving slabs all over our town. The council is belatedly tackling this by doing a few in each major street but it still leaves very large areas of badly broken slabs untouched. I feel some sympathy because a lot are dug up by contractors who do not repair them or if they do, do so badly. And we have some very narrow streets where heavy vehicles, delivering parcels etc, regularly drive onto the pavement to pass each other, or make a delivery.


In fact I am very surprised there are not more claims against the council such is the state of many of the pavements. My little unpaved strip clearly has very low priority. I doubt anyone would trip on it as it is pretty much under the stone step overhang. They would likely trip on the main pavement cracks first.......

BuntyB

If it were my path I would get OH to get some ready mixed mortar, fill up the damaged area one 'quiet' evening and re-lay the slab onto the wet mortar.

Repaired at 9pm, all set by 9am

cyclonebri1

Get a neighbour to send a claim in that his/her kids fell off their bike, or tripped over after dropping in your crack, (:eek:), bet that gets it sorted,;)

The council have a duty, if the pavement is unsafe they will act