Neighbouring /bordering unadopted road issues

fewcloudy

AdrianC said:

If the assistance of posters here is unwelcome, that's fine - but I was assuming that was why you posted.

Just your posts I think...

Davesnave

House_on_the_corner said:

EmmyLou30 said:

Would a letter to all the residents that use the dusty track help do you think - if you say people in your garden have been hit in the face by flying debris and you are now making them aware of the potential hazard. Failure to remedy the situation will lead to a claim for damages in the future should it happen again (as they are now aware of the hazard they are legally obligated to mitigate it right? or face the consequences). Might make them pay attention, might not, but still worth a go. In the meantime I would be fitting a sprinkler to my fence/wall to keep the track damp on hot dry days and reduce the dust cloud. Not very water wise but it's better than having your garden out of bounds and windows shut in summer.  

the residents committee just responded to say “sorry that happened to you but You should have known to expect it living next to an unmade road”. They are probably right but not a very amicable neighbourly response and didn’t indicate any concern or willingness to help

It's not written in friendly terms, but it sets out their position clearly from the legal standpoint they've chosen in response to what they see as a veiled threat from you.

I've just made a similar veiled threat in relation to some inappropriately-chosen landscaping trees which are now damaging the road surface I'm expected to contribute towards and invading my garden to a distance of 10m. So far, the management committee hasn't deigned to respond to me, but I'm expecting something similar.

It may be that the residents are not united. Where I am, about half wish to make improvements and the rest are only interested in keeping maintenance charges to an absolute minimum, especially those who are far in arrears! Dealing with residents' management committees may be slow and unrewarding, especially if they have poorly drawn up constitutions etc

ace33

NinjaTune said:

ace33 said:

Does it have to be tarmac? What surface is on there at the moment? We have just topped our drive up with 40 tons of ragstone chippings @ £24/ton +vat, look nice and compact down and give a good surface. A cheaper option would be road planings.

The neighbours who have responsibility for the unadopted road have refused to have tarmac laid.  The OP has already been hit by flying stones so I'm not sure that adding more stones would be useful.

I agree tarmac is expensive.
We have a lot of driveway (several hundred metres) and no issues with dust or stones flying with 20-40mm and that is without solid fences or hedges either side.
It would be able to be laid on top of the current surface most likely and cost ~2k is that. Once driven over the surface knits together. 

House_on_the_corner

Davesnave said:

House_on_the_corner said:

EmmyLou30 said:

Would a letter to all the residents that use the dusty track help do you think - if you say people in your garden have been hit in the face by flying debris and you are now making them aware of the potential hazard. Failure to remedy the situation will lead to a claim for damages in the future should it happen again (as they are now aware of the hazard they are legally obligated to mitigate it right? or face the consequences). Might make them pay attention, might not, but still worth a go. In the meantime I would be fitting a sprinkler to my fence/wall to keep the track damp on hot dry days and reduce the dust cloud. Not very water wise but it's better than having your garden out of bounds and windows shut in summer.  

the residents committee just responded to say “sorry that happened to you but You should have known to expect it living next to an unmade road”. They are probably right but not a very amicable neighbourly response and didn’t indicate any concern or willingness to help

It's not written in friendly terms, but it sets out their position clearly from the legal standpoint they've chosen in response to what they see as a veiled threat from you.

I've just made a similar veiled threat in relation to some inappropriately-chosen landscaping trees which are now damaging the road surface I'm expected to contribute towards and invading my garden to a distance of 10m. So far, the management committee hasn't deigned to respond to me, but I'm expecting something similar.

It may be that the residents are not united. Where I am, about half wish to make improvements and the rest are only interested in keeping maintenance charges to an absolute minimum, especially those who are far in arrears! Dealing with residents' management committees may be slow and unrewarding, especially if they have poorly drawn up constitutions etc

Thank you. Yes I think you are right. I didn’t mean it as a veiled threat to be honest. We just wanted them to understand how badly we are effected and that we are not just being grumpy moaning neighbours. We thought it might help them be more understanding and sympathetic to our plight. Good luck with your     tree issue. At least a slower response may mean they are giving it some thought!

ace33

To be fair, if you were only having 50m done, you'd probably be fine with 20tons, looking at a cost of around £600 if you can find a localish quarry, with a decent driver he could tip and drive and do most of the work too.

Davesnave

House_on_the_corner said:

Davesnave said:

House_on_the_corner said:

EmmyLou30 said:

Would a letter to all the residents that use the dusty track help do you think - if you say people in your garden have been hit in the face by flying debris and you are now making them aware of the potential hazard. Failure to remedy the situation will lead to a claim for damages in the future should it happen again (as they are now aware of the hazard they are legally obligated to mitigate it right? or face the consequences). Might make them pay attention, might not, but still worth a go. In the meantime I would be fitting a sprinkler to my fence/wall to keep the track damp on hot dry days and reduce the dust cloud. Not very water wise but it's better than having your garden out of bounds and windows shut in summer.  

the residents committee just responded to say “sorry that happened to you but You should have known to expect it living next to an unmade road”. They are probably right but not a very amicable neighbourly response and didn’t indicate any concern or willingness to help

It's not written in friendly terms, but it sets out their position clearly from the legal standpoint they've chosen in response to what they see as a veiled threat from you.

I've just made a similar veiled threat in relation to some inappropriately-chosen landscaping trees which are now damaging the road surface I'm expected to contribute towards and invading my garden to a distance of 10m. So far, the management committee hasn't deigned to respond to me, but I'm expecting something similar.

It may be that the residents are not united. Where I am, about half wish to make improvements and the rest are only interested in keeping maintenance charges to an absolute minimum, especially those who are far in arrears! Dealing with residents' management committees may be slow and unrewarding, especially if they have poorly drawn up constitutions etc

  Good luck with your  tree issue. At least a slower response may mean they are giving it some thought!

I expect they are, as we've offered to have the two that affect us most cut down and replaced with something more appropriate, all at our expense. Our 'mole' on the inside reckons that might happen eventually, but right now someone wants to argue over our choice of contractor. They are used to being the one giving the orders in their other life....

Fortunately, the tree issue is something we can live with, either way, but dealing with these committees can sometimes seem like a long game of chess. I'm just illustrating that even attempting to move things along with offers and incentives isn't always met with the response logic would suggest.

Slinky

Just a thought, even if you did get a positive response to your request and they let you pay for upgrading their road, are you going to make your house unsaleable in the future by having set a precident and thereby commiting a future purchaser to take on the liability for repairing this road?

Regarding speeding drivers we reduced that problem in the street I grew up in by installing sleeping policemen.  I'm not entirely sure of their legality, but they've been there 40 years without a problem.

House_on_the_corner

Slinky said:

Just a thought, even if you did get a positive response to your request and they let you pay for upgrading their road, are you going to make your house unsaleable in the future by having set a precident and thereby commiting a future purchaser to take on the liability for repairing this road?

Regarding speeding drivers we reduced that problem in the street I grew up in by installing sleeping policemen.  I'm not entirely sure of their legality, but they've been there 40 years without a problem.

That’s a very good point. Thank you. 

martindow

If speeding is a concern then the worse the state of the road, the slower people tend to drive.