December 13, 2004 |
I live in an unadopted road. The council have done nothing to help us and ignore us when we try toanswers to questions. I have contacted my local councillor and have been made a promise that they will "make good" of the road, then withdrew the comment. I am concerned from some of the information I have read in your website, about the disease that may or may not be harboured within the holes of dirty water. And yes we have rats! All for the joys of living somewhere slightly remote. Our council are going to be developing on this plotland (Basildon, Essex) but have stated they will not be doing any work to the roads. The residents group have tried, and things are slowly improving. However its a struggle. The refuse is collected, however they seem to care less about our road, and often throw rubbish in the back, and not care about what they miss. I have complained a number of times. Children use the roads for their motor bikes and flytippers think they can tip anything they like. (It seems they can). It is a wonderful area, full of beautiful wildlife, and should be cherished. Good site, and I will be a regular visitor to see if anything does improve. |
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November 25, 2004 |
I live on a private road (thats official now) . Along with 5 other residents we have just taken our Council to court for the 2nd time about the making up/resurfacing of our road (we lost)We now face a legal bill of £16,000 pounds , plus the cost of resurfacing our frontages. Mine will cost about £4,000.We fought the council because we believe that the road is not private due to the fact that the council have spent so much money on it in the past, by default they have taken over the liability of it.In 1963 they made up part of the road to adoption standards,they had trouble getting the money in off the residents, so they cancelled the debts!(but didnt adopt the road)In the town definitive maps part of the road was coloured in blue indicating it had been adopted!No wayleaves had been sought for any of the utilities or street furniture.The council have spent thousands on our road, but the judges still say its private!!! We are very disappointed at this latest outcome. We can appeal to the High Court, but we cannot afford to.TRAC have been a great help,through TRAC we got in touch with Mr Wedgewood,his wife Molly sucessfully fought the council in Heckmondwike and won.They took her to appeals 7 times, but she beat them every time.We learnt a lot from her cases and notes that she took along the way in her fight. I wish you all good luck in your quests for better roads, and dont give up the fight. |
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November 25, 2004 |
Great website and very informative. This problem is suffered by so many people in the UK. I used to believe that Councils were in place to co-ordinate efforts, and to achieve social improvements for the people they represent. This does not appear to be the case as far as those of us living in unadopted roads goes. We are the forgotten few. I live in one of what used to be the old plotlands areas in Basildon, Essex. Not only do we suffer the problems of mud, puddles, potholes, lighting etc, we also seem to be the ideal dumping ground for fly-tippers and local 'joy'riders. Of course as the roads are private, the local authority will not clear the flytipped rubbish (as they do from adopted roads). Taxi's will not drive down the unmade roads, the Police seem to steer clear, and I have been told that ambulances have refused to come down the roads. We do not benefit from the council's district newsletter or any of the local free newspapers as the roads are too poor for the delivery agents. There are also other council services that are not available to those of us in the plotlands. We have set up a residents group in the last year and have managed to vastly improve the area by collecting money to buy road scrapings and signs, and by arranging clean-up days to collect accumulated rubbish. We are slowly getting there, but it is a hard slog. We have had some help from a local councillor who is very supportive, but what we really need is to kick the council into action some way. We are also applying for lottery funding (not likely to succeed to be honest as we do not have enough minorities to be helped - though aren't we a minority group in ourselves ?) I am happy to share my experiences, and hope that we could get a national campaign going. I would laso like any hints and tips on how to fill potholes - where to get hot tarmac, how to deal manage the water from the roads etc. Maybe this website could also become a repository of information about how different g... |
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November 12, 2004 |
Hi, Me and my family have lived on an unadopted road now for 19 years, and have been campaigning since. When we purchased our house its price was about the same as all the other properties which were the same size at that time. We have continually tried to get the road adopted since then. I live in the Doncaster area and have the Mayor who listed in his manifesto that he would find a fair way of adopting all unadopted roads. We are all still waiting. At the moment I am in contact with the ombudsman service to try and get help there. Surely this issue contravenes the 1998 Human Rights Act, we pay our taxes and do not receive the same level of service as everyone else. Most of the houses that are located on unadopted roads were built before the second world war, after the second world war Road Tax was brought in to pay for road adoption and repair of damaged roads. Where is all this money now going, not on road maintenance!!! Maybe we need a national campaign, more people, mor e power, louder voices maybe someone will then listen to the people left in the 19th century through no fault of their own. Loved the site, keep the information coming. Good luck with your camaign. I could go on and on so better leave it there. |
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April 17, 2004 |
I would like to thank everyone for the stirling effort that is going on in areas where the working people are trying to action the councils into adopting unadopted roads.I and a few residents from the low moor,wyke and okenshaw areas of BRADFORD have just started such a campaign.Once again well done and keep up the good work |
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January 5, 2004 |
I too live on an un-adopted road. We bought our house recently, as first time buyers. we were informed that the road was unadopted, but not the implications and the difficulty in getting the road adopted. Having just spent our first winter in the house, we are somewhat dismayed, and less excited by our new home. we now realise it would be pointless to buy new carpets, and are now having to budget for laminate flooring, an added expense we hadn't forseen. Your campaign has my complete support and I wish you every success |
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December 29, 2003 |
An excellent website. Living in Bucks we have 120 houses on an unadopted road built in 1937.We have formed a Residents' Association, Constitution etc and have contacted the local Council and County Council. All are stonewalling ,of course, and pass us back to the original builder /developer who has since died and an off-shore Company formed which is showing no interest at getting involved. Have contacted MP,local Councillors and had articles in local press, much as your website suggests. Very pleased that we are following your great example albeit with slower speed! Will be contacting you to join your National campaign. Many thanks already for the ideas on your website, nice to know we are not alone in the fight - all power to your elbow!! |
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November 11, 2003 |
Excellent website. Have been trying to find out about laws governing unadopted roads as we have recently encountered a problem with access. Because the road is unadopted the new residents seem to think they can do what they like and turn it into even more of an eyesore. No-one seems to want to know. New residents that have just moved in use the road as an extention of their driveways and it is now beginning to look like Steptoe's yard! Local counsellors pay lip service and the council make up the rules as they go along. I have made enquiries about getting the road adopted and have come up against all the arguements I have read on your site. I shall now start to make a nuisance of myself by bombarding anyone who will listen with letters, courtesey of this site. Keep up the good work. |
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November 3, 2003 |
As a Councillor chairing a Scrutiny Committee Working Party looking into council policy on Road Adoption found your spot on polotics show very interesting. If possible would like to contact you in near future about meeting with your group to hear first hand your veiws and way forward from residents. I realise there is lots on site but sometimes as Councillors you need to feel the passion to fully understand the problem. The site is well produced and full of information well done. |
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October 27, 2003 |
Very good luck to your excellent campaign. A clearly identifiable cause, so politically simply - ythough the local politicians will (true to their type) probably whinge, wriggle and say 'it's not our responsibilitiy. My message to them, as far as the unadopted roads in the City of Sunderland, would be: 'How can any modern city authority tolerate allowing their tax-paying citizens existing in such deplorable conditions in the 21st century. The sites seem almost Dickensian and a crying shame to any modern urban location. keep p the campaign. With more publicity the politicans will sooner or later realise that their own policitcal self-interest is best served by being seen to actually bother to do something practical for their citizens. Trevor Stewart |
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September 17, 2003 |
Great site. Loads of info. I'm on an unadopted road and its so hard to find out anything. Spurs me on to try and get something done. Thanks |
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June 7, 2003 |
excellent website - i am trying to get a campaign going in wales. i have wrote to all the councils in wales and have had replies off most of them - but they do not want to know. i have spoke to local mp's, the highways and also the welsh assembly - and guess what - they do not want to know. Our local MP is Peter Hain - who when on the backbenches back in 1992 wanted funding off the goverment - he is now welsh seceretary - and guess what he seems to have forgotton all about this. good luck with your campaign we will be starting one in wales soon and poss website - will let u know if we get any luck. |
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May 20, 2003 |
Shirley, you may download any of the documents featured in our 'Documents to Download' section. We hope that you will find the general arguments for funding applicabable to your situation as well as ours. I'm pleased you find the site a useful resource. It's our aim to highlight the issue of unadopted roads as many people simply do not realise that they exist. Thanks for your comments and the best of luck. Webmaster. |
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May 1, 2003 |
I live on an unadopted road and 2years ago decided I had had enough of the rain filled pot holes. So I put together a letter and posted it to all the resdidents in the road asking them if they would be willing to contribute some money to fill in the pot holes. In the letter I said I would call back in 1 week to see what their response was. Since then a committee has been formed and fund raising efforts have helped to swell the funds. I wrote to the council, the local MP, and even the paper, but the only help I received was the council sent someone to give us an estimate of how much the road would cost if their contractors carried out the work. So since then we have carried on trying to fund the peoject ourselves. I was so pleased to find your web site, as when I searched a while ago I was not able to find much in the way of help. Your web site is what I had in mind to create but I am so pleased to see what you have done. We need a national campaign to try and get some action. Please send me anything you will be of help to us in gaining some kind of funding. Regards Shirley Lewis Please can you send me any information that might help in our fight. |
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March 9, 2003 |
I am trying to get some movement from DMBC about the road my daughter and grandaughter live in, I bought the property for them at a price that I didnt think was any cheaper for the state of the road. since then people have tried with no luck to get a decent road surface it was part of the newly appointed Mayor's manifesto that he was going to eradicate unadopted roads so i have written and asked what and when he is going to do something . we have had a questionaire asking if we want to pay for this in full or deferred, as the road is in the middle of a made up road with access to a council depot on part of it i think that the council should pay in full with any aid from grants etc |
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February 23, 2003 |
Welcome to the new guestbook for the TRAC website (www.sunderlandroads.org.uk). We've been getting lots and lots of comments by email in the past few months, so we though we'd introduce a guestbook to let you all have your say. Please feel free to leave your comments and views on the unadopted road situation here in sunderland or elsewhere in the UK. We would also love to here any comments or suggestions about this site. Any problems should be reported to the webmaster. |
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