CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 16years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
A house near me has a drop kerb for their driveway, but a new occupant recently paved over the garden and now uses that for parking as well.
I've just noticed that while the former garden doesn't have a drop kerb, they appear* to have filled the gully with gravel and stuff, to create a slope up to the pavement. Not all of it, but maybe 50-100 cm.
thoughts? can I ask the council to come clear the gully?
*Its possible it was like that before and I didn't notice
It is an offence, under Section 59 of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984, to place or deposit anything on a road that causes an obstruction without the written permission of the roads authority (Council).
If the gravel is causing an obstruction (probably a bit of a grey area) then the Council would ask the homeowner to remove it, only moving to enforcement action if they then refused.
"Whilst not universal knowledge, it is generally known that it is illegal to mount a kerb and drive across a pavement to access a property; that street parking is permissible where there is no dropped kerb (subject of course to any specific local parking restrictions); and that Highways Department permission is needed to drop a kerb (and planning consent if the road is classified)."
They should apply/pay to have the kerb dropped - they would probably get permission given precident of other neighbours.
At the moment they are driving over the pavement, which is illegal, and anyone can park in front of their car (if street parking available).
Would I be right in thinking that the same applies to people who fit those rubber kerb ramps - which I believe are usually sold as portable aids for people delivering trolley loads of stuff to premises with no dropped kerb - in the gully outside their property? There are quite a few of those along Greenbank Road e.g. here, mostly bolted to the road somehow.
Quite apart from obstructing the flow of rainwater along the gully, they are potentially a hazard to cyclists who prefer to stick close to the kerb.
You are correct ejstubbs, and that's a particularly egregious example. Asides from the points you mentioned on rainwater and hazard, it also stops people parking next to the non-dropped kerb that they're using as a driveway.
So, should one report these cowboy ramps to...someone?
Half way down Lanark Rd the house with all the cars have just concreted a ramp up the kerb to what street view shows is a relatively recent new hole in their garden wall.
When the council came along to resurface, far from removing it, they just top dressed the illicit ramp too!
I suspect that was just contractors i.e. not actually council employees doing what they were paid to do i.e. resurfacing. I doubt it would have been in their remit to police illegal access ramps, and I also doubt they would have any understanding of the legal status of such modifications to the public highway.
(I have a fairly poor opinion of road resurfacing contractors. The strangely not-very-bendy-at-all Caiystane Crescent was resurfaced a year or so before lockdown and within months the new surface was deteriorating, with quantities of loose gravel being washed/swept by traffic into the gullies and longitudinal cracks which quickly turned in to furrows - potentially lethal to bikes both pedal and motor - appearing along the crown of the road. It was re-done last year and the same problems are already re-manifesting. It probably doesn't help in their selection of materials if they believe it to be a sleepy residential side street rather than the twice-daily rush hour rat-run that it actually is.)
You must log in to post.
Cycling in Edinburgh Flickr group
Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin
posts