Colton Parish Council would likely to strongly express its disappointment that no action has been taken by yourselves to improve the condition of the above footpath.
We have been reporting this online for the last three years and receiving confirmation that work is required. Although it is stated to be low priority, no action of any kind has been taken, which we find very disappointing.
We have until now reassured parishioners that the path has been reported and that you have acknowledged that work is required, but they are now questioning the validity and the purpose of the reporting system as no work has been carried out – especially as they see other footpaths within the locality being repaired and cleared, despite not being in such a dire state of repair.
This footpath is the only pedestrian access from Colton to Rugeley and is considered extremely dangerous. There is only a thin strip of clear path that can used and this is at the edge nearest the road. The B5013 is a busy road with a large of amount of heavy goods traffic - do we have to wait for someone to trip and fall under a lorry before you do anything?
As the majority of high school children in the village of Colton do not qualify for a free bus pass, as the local high school is under the 3 mile limit, they are also expected to walk to and from school along this narrow unlit path at peak traffic times. It is also the route from Colton to its local railway station at Rugeley Trent Valley.
We are very aware of the financial pressures you are under and
because of this we have not pushed this matter over the last year.
However, we have observed the clearance of pavements in Handsacre,
Hopton, along the A51 from the Haywoods to Pasturefields and
further along the dual carriageway between Weston and Sandon. We
cannot see that these have a greater footfall than the footpath in
Colton and these paths also have a deep verge between the road and
the tarmacked pathway.
We were informed by our County Councillor Martyn Tittley at our last Parish Council meeting that there were not enough online complaints to warrant the works. The Parish Council has received many verbal and written complaints from parishioners who have not submitted an online complaint to yourselves as they either consider reporting the matter to us is sufficient or (in many cases) they have no internet access. We attach a list of people who have actually complained to the Parish Council over the last few years about the state of the footpath and who use it regularly. These people have not just complained once and are all very concerned about the danger of using this path. Our County Councillor is of the opinion that these complaints do not count as they were not submitted direct to yourselves. If this is the case we can make arrangements for all of these people to submit an online report using internet access provided by the Parish Council.
We would be grateful if you could confirm whether or not you intend to make this footpath safe and when this is likely to take place. If you have no intention of carrying out the work please could you supply your reasons and also give your reasons for clearing the other footpaths mentioned above in preference.
Petition with 37 signatures from Colton parishioners was also put together on paper with above letter, together with copies of 4 emails or letters sent previously by parishioners to the parish council requesting action from SCC on the footpath.
Started by: Alison JamesParishClerk (Colton Parish Council)
This ePetition ran from 02/05/2020 to 12/07/2020 and has now finished.
42 people signed this ePetition.
Firstly I would say that it is fully understandable to me why you would have aspirations regarding the maintenance of your local road network and I appreciate the time you have taken to contact the Council with your concerns.
Reports received via the Report It/My Staffs App are mostly
allocated to a small team of ‘Reactive Inspectors’ who
cover more than one district/borough each. They often have to
attend to urgent defects and remain on site until emergency works
are completed. We have to ensure therefore that their time on the
network is coordinated and targeted to specific locations, rather
than having them search for defects on whole lengths of roads that
can be several miles long.
They are responsible for administering the manual updating and
responding to between 3000-5000 reports a month on average.
In order to keep the public highway safe, urgent and high
priority defects around the county are resolved in a matter of days
as we will always prioritise our resources to firstly tackle the
problems on the network which pose the greatest risk.
However, this does unfortunately mean that lower priority issues
are not always dealt with as quickly as we would prefer and I am
sorry if this has not been properly communicated to the Parish
Council earlier.
The County Council does not solely rely on reports from the public to direct its highway inspections or ad hoc maintenance works. In addition to our ‘Reactive’ inspectors we have a small team of ‘Routine Inspectors’ who carry out safety inspections.
Colton Road is on a monthly routine inspection and the general condition of the whole carriageway and footway is assessed during this type of inspection. Any identified defects that meet intervention level are risk assessed and categorised. Footway repair tasks have been identified following routine inspections earlier in the year. These works will be scheduled as and when resources allow.
The footway on Colton Road was last inspected on the 24th September 2020. The inspector was unable to identify any defects posing a safety risk that require remedial works at that time. Although the area may show aesthetic signs of deterioration the County Council is not in a position to prioritise this type of work at this time.
The priority of highway maintenance works identified via routine and ‘reactive’ inspections is determined on a risk assessment which considers a number of factors, for example; the position of the road in the network hierarchy (road classification), the volume and speed of traffic using the route, the position/severity of the defect or issue, as well as other factors. This local framework (Code of Practice for Highway Safety Inspections) is based on national best-practice guidelines (Well Managed Highways) which in more recent years, has shifted to reflect the ever-increasing demands on Local Authority budgets across the country. This does mean however, that we are unable to provide exact dates for when this type of work can be completed.
The County Council encourages reporting defects online as this
offers a clear audit trail of the enquiry and allows our Operations
Team to provide electronic updates as and when work is carried out.
If you wish to report any specific localised road defects, these
can be reported using the 'Report it' pages on our website at
http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk
or by using the My Staffs App.
Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.