Villagers in Britain's longest running pothole row dating back to 1960 have been told to pay nearly £100k if they want them repaired.
Furious locals in Furneux Pelham, Herts, have been locked in a bitter dispute with the council for decades about fixing a lane that links the main road through the village to a cul-de-sac.
Hertfordshire County Council said that Whitebarns Lane has always been a public footpath and not a road - meaning it cannot be repaired at public expense.
Furious locals in Furneux Pelham, Herts, have been locked in a bitter dispute with the council for decades about fixing a lane that links the main road through the village to a cul-de-sac.
Hertfordshire County Council said that Whitebarns Lane has always been a public footpath and not a road - meaning it cannot be repaired at public expense.
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NewsTranscript
00:00In 2016 we noticed that the road surface deteriorated, so it was originally a full-width hard surface
00:12and in 2016 the potholes started appearing and they were slowly getting worse and worse
00:17and people were falling in the potholes.
00:20We're in dispute of who should do the road, the lane entering that estate.
00:28Is it the council or the housing association?
00:34We don't really know.
00:35We approached Harts County Council and they said it was a rights-of-way problem and so
00:40we went to rights-of-way and then they wrote to us saying that if we wanted the road made
00:45up then we would have to find £73,000 to do that.
00:49This is a social housing cul-de-sac, it is mixed housing now, but there are elderly people
00:55here and people that just really couldn't afford to find that kind of money.
00:59We've had a couple of accidents, so an elderly grandmother fell, hit her face on the ground
01:04while she was walking with her grandchildren.
01:06She broke her glasses and that was really distressing, it was upsetting obviously.
01:10We have a footpath out of the estate, comes all the way around both sides and it finishes
01:22here.
01:25That's from there, after that there's no footpath at all from here to where I have to walk down
01:31the lane to catch the bus which is our only transport out of the village, my only transport.
01:39When I walk down the lane, they're saying it's a footpath, I have to get out of the
01:46way to let cars through, I have to watch where I'm walking down the lane to the pothole
01:54so I don't trip into them.
01:56I have tripped into them a couple of times but I've been fast enough and quick enough
02:01on my feet to save my balance.
02:03This is a unique access route to this social housing cul-de-sac that was originally built
02:09by East Harts District Council, subsequently sold on to Housing Association.
02:15Through Freedom of Information we've managed to get lots of documentation showing when
02:21the various parts of the cul-de-sac were built.
02:24In 1968 the county's own surveyor said should there be any further building beyond the purpose
02:30built elderly people's bungalows then Harts County Council Highways should make the access
02:37route up to highway standard.
02:39They adopted the cul-de-sac but not the route and are now maintaining that they have never
02:49made up the route and if they did it was an accident or a mistake but we have found two
02:56news articles showing that they did at some point make the route up, so 1960 and 1980.
03:04What am I supposed to do?
03:06Where do I walk?
03:07They're saying it's a footpath so have I got the right of way over cars or cars got the
03:14right of way over me?
03:16There's no path or anything to walk on the side, you've got to stand off the road to
03:21let a car pass and it's just becoming too much.
03:27It's unnecessary because the route has been kept up before, they're just refusing to reinstate it.
03:32What I would say to the council is please reinstate the full width hard sealed surface
03:36up to the entrance and beyond the entrance of the cul-de-sac and please put in policy
03:45a way to maintain that route going forward so that we do not have to go through this again.