A Tale of Two Hedges

In the past few weeks a number of parishioners have been asking  parish councillors who is responsible for the maintenance of the Sedgwick Road footway, which is becoming more and more overgrown.  The footway was created by the developer Russell Armer as part of the St Mark’s Fold development, and is intended to be adopted by the Highway Authority (CCC) as “highway maintainable at public expense” in accordance with an agreement with the developer, under Section 38 of the Highways Act 1980.  Unfortunately, despite 12 years having passed, neither St Mark’s Fold, nor the footway have been adopted. 
The Parish Council understands that the latest delay is because the Highway Authority failed to appreciate that on completion of the adoption, they would have to maintain the wall/ hedge between the new footway and the road.  As a result, the Highway Authority is in the process of re-negotiating the original agreement so as to obtain payment of a commuted sum from Russell Armer to cover the future cost of maintaining the wall/hedge. By the end of July, the Highway Authority had agreed the sum of money, but were waiting for it to be paid.  It would then be completed by the lawyers.
The maintenance of the other hedge between the footway and the Home Field, as with all boundary hedges, is the responsibility of the adjacent land owner.  It’s been a deplorable situation and Natland Parish Council has consistently made representations to the Highway Authority to sort it out; the safety and convenience of users of the public highway is, after all, their responsibility. 
I attempted to walk along the footway today and retreated - I didn’t fancy getting stung and scratched by nettles and brambles. For wheel chair users and small children in push buggies it would have been impossible. I’m sure the whole community very much hopes this long saga is settled soon.
Rhian Peters
Parish Councillor