3 month road closure preventing vehicle access to home

MaebyJade

Apologies if this post is in the wrong forum. I live in a cul de sac, then last house, and about a month ago I received a letter from the developers informing me that the road I live on will be closed for approx. 10 days for road works, so currently no resident has vehicle access to their homes. Initially I didn’t even though it’s about a 5mins walk from the top of the road to my house. Today however, I received another letter, again from the developers, saying that the road will remain closed for a further 12 weeks!!

My question is, are they allowed to do this? It’s a public road, I didn’t think they had free reign to do what they want? 3 months without vehicle access is incredibly inconvenient, especially as we have a baby so we have to undo and redo the pram every time we want to go out for the walk to the car.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Ant555

Is it closed for road works/repairs associated with your road or is it a housing developer working on nearby land and using your road as access and altering the layout etc

MaebyJade

Ant555 wrote: »

Is it closed for road works/repairs associated with your road or is it a housing developer working on nearby land and using your road as access and altering the layout etc

The initial 10 days was to relay the road, now from the look of things they are using it for access to change the layout, joining it up with another road. I say from the look of things because the road was relayed after about a week and now they just leave their equipment (digger, bulldozers etc) on it.

Bigphil1474

Op, If it is definitely a public highway, you should speak to your local council highways Department - also worth speaking to your local councillor. Normally any road closures have to be agreed with the council Highways Department. Whether the developers fully explained the affects of the closure would be interesting. If it's a road which is part of the development, it may not have been adopted yet or may be classed as a private road, but highways should know that anyway - if you get a refuse collection then the road will be on their 'database'.
Can't imagine why they need the whole road closed for 14 weeks to do road works - they resurfaced my entire street plus pavements in a week, a couple of years ago. I'd have thought they'd be able to stagger some of the work to provide some access.

facade

If it is a public road, visit you council website, and search "roadworks". They should have a document/webpage detailing all road closures, with a start and finish date.

If it is on there, then there isn't much you can do. if anything, as if they have applied for a road closure to do "essential works", then it takes as long as it takes up to the length of the closure order (which is usually for 6 months in case they find a munitions dump, or a mineshaft or something)

I'd have thought that they had to maintain access, but if it is the only road, and it is impossible?
You could ask how the Fire Brigade is supposed to reach your house.....

MaebyJade

facade wrote: »

If it is a public road, visit you council website, and search "roadworks". They should have a document/webpage detailing all road closures, with a start and finish date.

If it is on there, then there isn't much you can do. if anything, as if they have applied for a road closure to do "essential works", then it takes as long as it takes up to the length of the closure order (which is usually for 6 months in case they find a munitions dump, or a mineshaft or something)

I'd have thought that they had to maintain access, but if it is the only road, and it is impossible?
You could ask how the Fire Brigade is supposed to reach your house.....

That’s an interesting point, I’ve never really considered that. Not only is the road closed but they leave their heavy machinery in the middle of the road at during the night so how an emergency vehicle is supposed to get past is beyond me.

Thanks for the advice, I’ll check the council highway website or phone them and update.

bigadaj

MaebyJade wrote: »

That’s an interesting point, I’ve never really considered that. Not only is the road closed but they leave their heavy machinery in the middle of the road at during the night so how an emergency vehicle is supposed to get past is beyond me.

Thanks for the advice, I’ll check the council highway website or phone them and update.

You refer to the developers in the OP, is this a new house, is it a private road or has it not been adopted as yet by the local council?

Strider590

I think i'd be tempted to move any cones/obstructions and just use the road.

We had a similar thing a few years ago on a road I used for travel to work, they did a bit of work and then left the road closed for 9 months. After the first 3 months I was going to move the road block and the cones, but someone beat me to it

System

Strider590 wrote: »

I think i'd be tempted to move any cones/obstructions and just use the road.

You then cannot claim for any damage to your vehicle or any personal injuries you sustain as a result. They can however claim from you for any damage or injury that happens to any of their employees or representatives due to you moving safety and warning equipment.

Strider590

Tarambor wrote: »

You then cannot claim for any damage to your vehicle or any personal injuries you sustain as a result. They can however claim from you for any damage or injury that happens to any of their employees or representatives due to you moving safety and warning equipment.

But "I didn't move them gov, must have been somebody else, you clearly failed to secure the area properly".

gollum007

MaebyJade wrote: »

That’s an interesting point, I’ve never really considered that. Not only is the road closed but they leave their heavy machinery in the middle of the road at during the night so how an emergency vehicle is supposed to get past is beyond me.

Thanks for the advice, I’ll check the council highway website or phone them and update.

Call the fire brigade, not the council.

(Obviously not 999....)

They'll have a fire safety officer, who will come out and take the developers to task if they're blocking emergency access.

The council are more likely to start buck passing between departments than anything else....