Parish Council
Workmen completed the full repair of the drain on the left-hand side as you drive out of the village. It proved more difficult than expected because the subsidence had caused some significant damage to the adjoining road.
The hole was dug, the drain replaced and a concrete covering was applied. The concrete might cause a little nuisance during the Winter months but I think it will prove to be better protection for the underlying drain.
Completed without incident.
I spoke to the workmen when they were preparing the road signs for the work on the drain and they informed me that work was going to commence on Monday 26th June and that the TRO had been sent to all affected parties.
Monday arrived and there followed a small issue with Stagecoach and College buses which were stuck and could not travel from one side of the village to the other. We contacted Josh and he was on-site in less than half an hour; he insisted that all companies had been contacted but when I contacted Taw and Torridge the Thursday before they knew nothing about it. Nonetheless, I was very impressed with Josh and his proactive approach and I am building an excellent working relationship with him. The weather was kind to us all at the beginning of the week and it resulted in the work on the drain being completed in under two days. I will say that the speed of its completion was likely to be down to Josh too who was very aware of the disruption which we as villagers were all facing and I was impressed with his attitude towards me and Derek when we met him on Monday morning.
In the days that followed, Josh arranged a strimmer man to cut the verges up by the Old School and a suck-o-meter to remove the leaves from all the drains on that side of the village. The village of Sticklepath, therefore, has had much work done to its roads and infrastructure in the last few weeks.
I would like to give out a special thanks to Josh without whom all this would not have happened. He has been excellent and I feel that he has a genuine interest in ensuring that our village is looked after.
All in all, a very successful month of June.
I met with Josh Scillitoe, Neighbourhood Highways Officer, yesterday and he took me on a tour of the Parish introducing me to some of the things which we all need to be thinking about in the Parish and how we can all help him to maximise the support we can provide to him and his team to sort out some of the teething issues with the infrastructure in the area.
We spent a considerable amount of time on Willey Lane and discussed various features. I will summarise:
1) We looked the section of Willey Lane, the curve by the Playing Field. There is a need to clean the concrete drainage feature and to regularly remove the weeds, leaves and mud from this area. I understand from Councillor Moore that Paul in the village used to do this but he got fed up with doing this on his own. I think we could, perhaps, try to re-engage villagers and put this on our list of things to do at the next Village Day. Then, I think it would be useful to organise for this area to be cleared annually. There are also some potholes which do not meet the criteria to be identified as ‘road defects’ but may be something which one of more of us can repair with dry tarmac when we have received our training.
2) We travelled further up Willey Lane and looked at nearly all the Drainage covers up until the bridge across the A30 (where the Parish boundary ends). All of them were clear and looked like they were draining well and there is a sign which could do with a bit of trimming (I will see if I can get some loppers out and tickle the hedge to make sure that the sign is readable – just to make you aware of the law on all of this – we are allowed to trim the hedge belonging to a private landowner if the sign is a warning sign. If it is an information sign then it is good practice to ask the landowner first. We are not allowed to organise extensive hedge cutting of a hedge belonging to a private landowner, if this needs doing and we consider it to be a hazard to anyone then it is best that councillors inform me and then I will indicate to Josh that a ‘veg’ letter be sent out to encourage the landowner to cut their hedge.
3) There are a number of large ditches and grips as you travel up the road. We need to be looking at the entrances and exits of these ditches on a regular basis; how regular? Josh recommends at key points in the year such as just after the leaf fall in early Autumn and early Spring. We are not allowed to cut, irritate, rip out any significant vegetation near to or a hedge boundary from 1st April to roughly September because (and I believe this is National Park guidelines: this is nesting and breeding season for many animals and we are not allowed to do any extensive work which might hinder this process. If it is an emergency and this has to happen then I suggest that councillors inform me and I will ask Josh if we can escalate the process and make it possible due to it being an actual risk to the welfare of humans in the area.
4) There are a number of ditches on Willey Lane. I think it would be useful to engage with the landowners who have created these ditches and work out how often they clear them. Depending on weather, Josh reckons every few years there should be enough sediment in them to need clearing and this, he says, is probably already on the radar of most the farmers/landowners in the area but it’s worth communicating with them to see if there are any areas which we might need to do. For example, this may be something, which, given enough notice a team of volunteers like STOCS could do?
5) We travelled up the main road, through the village and Josh has noted that there is some deterioriation in the main road (central) but he stated to me that does not qualify as a road defect and it is common because when the road is laid, it is laid in two carriageways and the road is ‘splitting’ where the two carriageways link up. The Parish boundary goes all the way to the BP garage too. The work on the drainage up by Bude Farm was very difficult, the pipe was split and the subsidence was ‘awful’ so they had to relay the pipe and cap it with concrete. It looks excellent but it was noted again that it is already filling with leaves which will affect its ability to drain effectively. It is a main road and very difficult to clear safely too. I will speak to Josh about how we can organise clearance of this section of road.
6) The definition of a pot hole on the road is a sharp edged hole which is 300mm square (so not 300m long and 250mm wide) and is 40mm deep. There are different regulations for pavements and pathways; I think the dimensions are 200mm square and 50mm deep. Josh and his team, frankly, have not got enough time or money to sort out every pothole in his area so when I have completed my two hour training I can then order some materials from him which will allow me to do some repairs on some of the smaller holes. Now, apart from the safety regulations and the need to wear a Hi-Vis jacket, there are many holes which need filling. I think it needs to be clearly stated to residents in the Parish that I am not the Pot-Hole Doctor, I am someone who helps to fill some of the holes in, I am volunteer with limited time and I will do my best, following my training to fill these holes in.
7) After I have completed the necessary training, I will be working with Councillor Moore to generate a comprehensive risk assessment which will identify risks and the mitigations which need to take place to ensure the safety of everyone. I will be clearer too following my training on the necessary steps which need to be taken if we need to close any sections of road or hinder the movement of vehicles to ensure that we are safe when working by the road. I have asked Josh too for six traffic cones and he is very happy for us to have them and he will drop them off in the village at an agreed location.
Josh was extremely helpful and proactive and he is actively trying to engage me and others in the Parish to make sure that we can do all we can to ensure that the infrastructure in the area is looked after. I am the only Road Warden in his area too which allows me to be much closer to him and I have stated that I am more than happy to be made an example of and be used as a demonstration as to the usefulness of the Road Warden scheme. Josh spent over two hours of his own time away from his incredibly busy schedule (he has literally got hundreds of other things to do) to spend time with me, introducing some of the things I need to know. He is excellent and we are developing an excellent working relationship with each other.
Cllr Jake Powell
Sticklepath Road Warden