Oxfordshire Highways, part 2.

[gurthaew]

We received a telephone call from someone who works for the highways department requesting further information and asking to visit to see the damage. At 2.30pm said person arrived bearing a blank claim form and a camera and he then inspected the damage. He had obviously spent several hours immersing himself in the Oxfordshire Council manual for denying everything so only spoke about possibilities although he looked at the wall and said it wasn't in very good condition. Precisely how anyone should interpret this is baffling - it's a rustic stone wall made with rough cut blocks and held together with lime mortar so it would never look like a modern brick wall. I suspect it looks like that so that it's in keeping with the grade 2 listed building behind. I wonder whether the wall is mentioned in the original listing.



I have taken numerous photographs to support the claim. The one above is typical and has 6 white plastic markers pointing up towards areas where the contractor's digger has collided with the wall stones. This is the only part of the wall where the digger has hit and, unsurprisingly, the collapse occured about midway between the two outer markers.

As a rough guess it will take about 2 man days for a builder to dismantle an rebuild the wall.

They are due to finish the resurfacing tomorrow, a layer of coarse stones and tar will be put down and then compacted by a small, vibrating roller followed by a smooth surface layer. Quite how the remaining part of the wall will cope with that kind of treatment remains to be seen. When they have finished I assume they will pack all their equipment and warning signs away and depart thus leaving me with a wall that is in danger of falling outwards onto the path. At the moment i have placed one of their barriers against the wall so that no-one will get close. Maybe I should call the highways people after the workmen have gone and demand that some protection and warning bits are left?

Comments

[muuranker.livejournal.com]

Are you in a conservation area? If so, I suggest you get your district/borough's Conservation Officer to take a gander at it (and support you in forcing the Highways to rebuild it appropriately). At the very least, they should be able to tell you who might be able to give you professional advice on the stability of the wall.

I think I'd tell Highways that they've created a hazard (and need to close the footpath). But I wouldn't put bulldozing the wall to remove the hazard to remove the problem.

Also have a look at any covenants, etc. relating to the property - they may oblige you to rebuild using local stone/lime mortar.

[the-marquis.livejournal.com]

I'd say odds are good you'll have stuff left behind anyway wether you ask or not

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Good luck!