Plea to housing minister as neighbours ‘go to war’ over their unadopted roads
NEIGHBOURS are increasingly getting into bitter disputes about the upkeep of unadopted and private roads outside their homes, a council has warned.
The issue was raised at a meeting of Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council, after a particular case where a group of residents became “at war” over such a road, costing many hours of police and councillors’ time to sort out.
Councillor Richard Allen said that unadopted roads cause problems as often one resident will refuse to contribute towards paying for repairs to potholes or other damage, or it will be unclear who owns what portion of a road or a shared drive, leading to angry disagreements.
He put forward a motion at a council meeting about the contentious problem, which he says plagues several streets in Earl Shilton, the area he represents.
He said of the town: “There’s a number of roads which are unadopted or classified as private roads.
“Some of them are quite old. Others, and increasingly, are being used on new developments, to try and access some of the smaller and tucked away parcels of land. These private roads, or unadopted roads, cause nothing but misery for the residents who live on them.
“The intent of this motion is for this council to try and do something through our planning policy in the future to help prevent that misery, for future residents, and to also contact the minister responsible to see if we can actually make lives better for people across the country.”
His motion set out to adopt a policy of requiring all roads and accesses in planning applications to be of an adoptable standard “if at all possible”.
The council is also writing to Robert Jenrick, the minister for
Housing, Communities and Local Government, to request that the issue be considered and addressed in the National Planning Policy Framework.
Councillor David Cope, who seconded the motion, said: “I fully respect the need for housing, of this there is indisputable evidence.
“But cramming people’s homes into ever increasing densities, then not adopting the access streets, and also creating shared drives, is just a recipe for future issues.”
Several other councillors spoke out in support of the proposal, with Councillor Bill Crooks mentioning one case where it took him five years to get a road adopted. He said: “The problem with the roads not being adopted is it leaves residents open to all the costs roads, footways, drainage, street lights - and even it could be in the future, road sweeping and things like that.”
The motion was unanimously approved by the council.