Who is responsible for what when it comes to highways-related issues is not always as clear cut as you might think. Combine this with budget availability, the degree of perceived risk/urgency associated with individual issues, turnover of key contacts within relevant local council teams, whether problems are reported, etc, and you can begin to see why small problems can turn into larger ones and become a focus of local annoyance. This is not a defence of the system, so much as an attempt to explain some of its imperfections.
In very general terms, Cambridgeshire County Council (CCC) is responsible for maintaining highways, pavements and lighting; South Cambridgeshire District Council is responsible for street cleaning and litter; Stapleford Parish Council is responsible for protecting public rights of way, maintaining roadside verges, path lighting, and maintaining path signs and way posts.
Stapleford Parish Council is building stronger relationships with CCC’s Highways team in a bid to resolve some long-standing problems in the village. We are starting with Councillors surveying the main roads, pavements, footpaths and bridleways in the village to identify and report medium- to high-risk hazards. Reporting is being done via the Highways online tool and also directly to a key contact within the Highways team.
There are no quick fixes here and we will continue to live with existing problems for some time. Often, problems may be extensive and unsightly but they do not constitute a hazard to road/pavement/path users. As such, rather than requiring urgent attention they fall into consideration as part of CCC’s three-year improvement plan.
BUT! There is some positive progress to report. The following are relatively minor repairs and reflect the availability of CCC budget at the end of the financial year, but they are better than nothing and hopefully mark the beginning of more action moving forward. Within the next 3 months, the following should be addressed:
- Outside 41 Bar Lane – loose 90cm length of kerbstone
- Outside 43 Bar Lane – deep pavement depression
- Outside 46 Bar Lane – loose 90cm length of kerbstone
- Bar Lane – central white lines to be repainted
- At Bar Lane/Bury Rd junction – give way lines to be repainted
- School Keep Clear markings to be repainted outside primary school
- Damage to traditional kerbstones in Church St Conservation Area
- Gog Magog Way – 4 potholes covering almost entire width of road to be filled (NB: this repair has now been done)
- Gog Magog Way – drain to be cleared and soakaway channels to be dug as a temporary fix to flooding on path by horse fields; permanent fix to be done in next financial year.
Stapleford Parish Council extends its thanks to a Gog Magog Way resident for pursuing the last of these issues over a very long period of time.
We will endeavour to keep parishioners informed if or when we receive notification of future highways work.
