Coventry City Council to enforce dropped-kerbs rule

[dutchman]

Residents could be hit with bills for thousands of pounds if they drive over pavements to park on their own property.



Coventry City Council has signed off the creation of a ‘vehicle crossing officer’ who will police the city’s pavements and be responsible for taking enforcement action against people who drive across footpaths illegally.

Highways regulations mean residents should have a lowered kerb installed in order to allow vehicle access to their property. Now the council has announced it will clamp down on offenders after it said “hundreds” of drivers were flouting the law by bumping up kerbs and driving across footpaths.

Council officials say residents must properly apply to have a dropped kerb installed if they want to park on their own property. If persistent offenders fail to comply the council can install one anyway and force the resident to pay the full cost - an average of about £1,200.

Alternatively, the council could block drivers from accessing their own homes by installing bollards.

But the repercussions could be much worse for drivers after a senior councillor confirmed the council could pursue residents for the cost of any damage to pavements or underlying pipes or utility cables - bills which could run into several thousands of pounds.

Coun Rachel Lancaster, the council’s cabinet member for public services, insisted the issue was serious after the council spent over £300,000 repairing damaged pavements last year.

She said: “The main issue for us is that the majority of complaints we now get about highways are about damaged pavements as a result of people driving over them. That means people can trip and fall.

“The main causes of damage to pavements are people driving over them or parking with two wheels on them. They are not built to support the weight of a vehicle.”

She added: “The average cost to repair one square metre of footpath is £100 and last year we repaired about two miles of footpath. That compares to £25 to repair one metre of road. It’s much more expensive because of the utilities that run underneath.

“The council is responsible for any damage to utilities that run underneath public pathways. If cables are broken, the council has to pay for that and that is council taxpayer’s money.

“If people continually drive over pavements and damage utilities, reclaiming the cost of repairing that from the property owner is something we would look at through the legal department.”

The cost of applying for a lowered kerb has now doubled to £200, but the council insists the service is now more accessible than ever after changing rules introduced in 2011 to now allow external contractors to carry out the work. If residents choose to let the council complete the job they will receive £100 of their application fee back.

A council report said it expected to generate in excess of £30,000 just through application fees as a result of the changes - money that would be used to pay the wages of the new vehicle crossing officer.

Rules have also changed which mean people with smaller front gardens can apply for a dropped kerb, with a minimum length of 4.5 metres now required.

Council leader Ann Lucas said: “This is hopefully a tool we can use to help people. Nevertheless, they must have the work done correctly.”

[rebbonk]

Now I might just agree with the Ginger Gnome on this one, but I don't agree with the way she's going about it.

I remember the police 'nicking' students who had crossed the pavement to park on unused land by the Hen and Chicks pub in the 70s.

Parking on pavements is not only anti-social, but often dangerous.

Sadly, Rachael seems to want to use a sledgehammer to change things, rather than adopt a much more gentle approach which would likely be heeded. Take a look at the comments on the Telegraph website, it's the most active I've seen.

[Melisandre]

I wonder how many have seen all the new houses and 3 to 4 storey flats that have been built over Stoke way, most new builds have nt got the room at the front as gardens are so small or non at all to be able to park a car like my home . As of crossing over the pavement to enter your premises with out a drop curb thats a different thing and has always been illegal.

I think its about time some one sued Coventry Council on this for making our roads and streets unfit for purpose in this day and age when dustbin men and emergency services cant get into our streets even with cars parked on the kerb so what chance would they have if every one parked kerb side on the road it self .  If they want people to park kerb side then the road s need widening for the amount of traffic they have incouraged into this city through building extra homes with not enough or none at all garages or parking facilities when there can be two to three cars per house hold in certain cases as government want our elderly kids to return or remain living with us they can't have it every way. I ve seen six cars parked on the front garden top part of Threherne Rd no drop curb.

I find it Ironic considering recent news how they are welcoming Jag LandRover who wish to builds cars here which will destroy our Green Belt the lungs of our city.