It has come to my attention that Kent Highways has been busy in regard to CGP's Fencing down at Pouces Cottage in Manston. Those who contacted their KCC Elected members will be pleased to know that concerns expressed to Councillors and acted on by them, has come to fruition.I am reliably told that CGP has been reminded that " barbed wire fences at such close proximity to the Highway would be viewed by us as being in contravention of section 164 of The Highways Act 1980." KCC Highways has asked them to remove it 'as soon as possible to prevent further action from the authority".
In addition, an Inspector from Kent Highways noted that some of the posts are less than 500mm from the edge of the carriageway and as such are likely to have been erected on Highways land!
CGP has given assurances that Kent Highways comments will be acted on quickly and that presumably they will follow guidance from Kent Highways to " ensure that your new fence is a minimum of 1m from the edge of the carriageway to alleviate any doubt that the fence is erected on Highway's land."
Bertie is a simple sort of chap and wonders in view of this advice, why CGP does not simply accept that the fence already marking their land is about 1m away from the 'edge of the carriageway' and bin their ideas to re-fence their boundary along the B 2190 as they remove the stakes and barbed wire erected last Friday. Is it really worth all the expense it will cost to move the existing boundary fence forward a few millimetres? Perhaps that 'contractor' who hopefully has now received his cheque from the previous owners of the land, was an experienced 'fencer' after all and made sure that the existing fence was 1m away from the edge of the carriageway!
It seems to Bertie that 'common-sense' should prevail in fencing matters rather than 'PR Company' prepared statements to extract oneself from a self inflicted predicament!
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16 comments:
I do enjoy it when rude and inconsiderate big companies end up with egg on their face. Perhaps it is just me.
No - I enjoy it too
Yes it is worth the expense!! Anything to keep tresspassers of ones own land.
09.24, I agree about keeping trespassers off etc, but would you really erect a new fence a few inches in front of a perfectly good one erected only 18 months ago, just in case some-one might step off the road onto a verge that you own? Sorry, but even Bob The Builder might baulk at that.
A resident has contacted me to say that the barbed wire has been removed. This is good news. All CGP now need to do is gather some winter fuel from the roadside before others get the idea that a few logs on the fire might come in handy; this is 'Fannit init?'
Nothing alters the fact that Pouces residents and their visitors have been trespassing on the neighbouring land-owner's ground for years. You only have to look at Google Earth to see two cars parked well off the road and the criminal damage caused to the verge by continuous parking. From the land-owner's point of view a fence was obviously long overdue...
Bertie, I would add to the barbed wire and put a machine gun nest in.
I will now contact my friends in the travelling folk and advise them of the chance of a free camp site over christmas
It’s a hilarious tale of incompetence below the garden shed level of construction, what is so worrying though is that we are supposed to be relying on the competence of these people to build a huge industrial estate on top of our drinking water reservoir.
14.29, for years Pouces Cottages residents have been encroaching on the verge and it would now appear that 1m of that encroachment was on KCC land! Neither Alland Grange (the previous owners up to 1m from the highway)nor CGP objected to this encroachment(owners since Spring 2007) and quite frankly CGP is perfectly entitled to exercise its ownership rights of a few cm of verge if it wishes to. One can only ask, why now? However right in law (and this is not disputed), it has cast CGP in a petty light. I am not surprised that Pouces Cottages residents now take the view of 'up yours' and are parking in their back-gardens at additional expense and with detriment to their quality of life, rather than 'go cap in hand to CGP and ask to park on the verge or in the gate entrance; it is a quaint British characteristic!
A number of our County Councillors (Conservative & Labour)got onto the fence issue and here is a 'Press Release' from two of them:
DANGEROUS CGP FENCING HAS TO GO!
Kent County Councillors Alan Poole and Clive Hart have raised serious concerns with Kent County Council about sharp and potentially dangerous fencing erected around the CGP site at Manston and Kent Highways have responded by demanding that the barbed wire fence alongside the highway adjacent to the site be removed as soon as possible in order to prevent further action. Barbed wire fences at such close proximity to the highway are viewed by KCC as being in contravention of section 164 of the Highways Act 1980.
Cllr. Alan Poole said "Residents contacted us with their concerns and officers confirmed our views that the fencing was completely out of order".
Cllr. Clive Hart said "We were shocked when we were shown the barbed wire fencing. In any event it wasy and just had to go".
Published by Cllrs. Clive Hart & Alan Poole. 44 Northdown Road, Margate, Kent, CT9 2RW.
Could I thank all County Councillors for their efforts.
Anon. 14.15. I drove past this spot at 13.30 yesterday and there were no cars there except where the cottage owner has land he owns so I don't know how you saw two vehicles on the verge. The first cottage has land at the side and the last one also but the six in between are having to park in their back gardens using a narrow drive that goes to the rear of their properties.
Anon. 12.15 I suspect you work for CGP and are trying to justify their mean and spiteful actions last Friday when one owner was clearly targeted because he was the only one to receive a note through his door.
The land he and others parked on is not CGP's but belongs to Kent Highways so there was a double offence committed by CGP -using barbed wire and snatching Kent Highways land to claim as their own.
Is that right,
Clive Hart and Alan Poole live together? Has any one told Mrs Poole and Linda Aldred?
A cheap comment 20.35! These Councillors, like other KCC Councillors , took up this issue on behalf of residents who contacted them. That to me, is them fulfilling the obligations to their electorate, regardless of Party affiliation.
I think, anon. 20.35, apart from being a silly comment, you'll find the address is that of the Labour Party in Cliftonville and Clive is married to Sandy who owns a hairdressing business on Northdown Road at the other end, nearer TESCO.
And I thought Sandy had a carpet business at that end of northdown road!!!!!!!
Neighbouring shops, I think!
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