Minutes:
The Council had before it a Notice of Motion set out in the agenda papers standing in the names of Mr A D Kent, Mrs E A Eyre and Mr R C Adams.
The motion was moved by Mr A D Kent and seconded by Mrs E A Eyre who both spoke in favour of it, and Council agreed to deal with it on the day.
In the ensuing debate, the following points were made:
· An increased number of complaints had received last year about overgrown hedgerows encroaching on footpaths which impacted on the ability of pedestrians to navigate them as well as reducing visibility at junctions. On many occasions, hedgerows were privately-owned and dealing with these complaints was time-consuming and costly for the Council. The Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Highways was being asked to consider supporting delegated authority to parish councils to serve notice and take enforcement action on landowners in these circumstances as well as the ability to side out and maintain the growth of the hedgerow thereby providing a more responsive and cost-effective/neutral solution to the problem
· Overgrown hedgerows were pushing pedestrians to the edge of pavements which had safety implications
· This issue was too complex to pass onto the parish Lengthsman and needed a proactive approach from County Highways
· Non-parished areas should also be considered as part of this motion
· Parish councils should be empowered to recover costs from landowners for this work
· It was possible for parish councils to utilise the expertise of parish Lengthsman in exercising the responsibilities of this scheme. Parish councils did not have to take part in the scheme
· The Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Highways commented on behalf of the Conservative Group, that he was happy to support the motion and bring an initial report to Cabinet. He would also establish a pilot project to test the proposals before bringing a final report to Cabinet. The safety of pedestrians was a top priority for the Council, especially for the elderly and disabled. The implications of permitting third parties to serve and enforce notices and side out footways on behalf of the Council would need careful examination. It was possible to extend the parish Lengthsman scheme to enable parish/town councils to take action against landowners who allowed hedges/trees to become overgrown. There would need to be a process to manage any scheme as well as the costs involved, particularly where the work was not deemed a Council priority
· It was impossible to believe that empowering parish councils would reduce service costs. Parish councils could not possibly match the economies of scale achieved by in-house service provision, especially in respect of legal challenge. The motive behind this motion was to empower parish councils without any consideration of the possible cost to the council taxpayer
· This motion would create a two-tier system whereby non-parished areas would end up with a worse service.
RESOLVED: “Many residents in Worcestershire believe that it is the responsibility of Worcestershire County Council to maintain the hedgerows and trees that overhang or obstruct pathways and roads, and impact visibility causing safety issues. However, on many occasions these hedges and trees are not owned by WCC.
Within the Highways Act of 1980 wherever a hedge, tree or shrub overhangs a highway or any other road or footpath to which the public has access so as to endanger or obstruct the passage of vehicles or pedestrians, or obstructs or interferes with the view of drivers of vehicles or the light from a public lamp, we may, by notice either to the owner of the hedge, tree or shrub or to the occupier of the land on which it is growing, require him within 14 days from the date of service of the notice so to lop or cut it as to remove the cause of the danger, obstruction or interference.
Enforcement and subsequent billing by the County Council is not the ideal solution. These issues affect many people daily on a local basis and the assistance of a local Parish Council, Town Council or District Councils could be extremely helpful and improve timing and outcomes.
After maintenance on the hedges and trees is complete often the footways previously obstructed require maintenance such as siding out - removing the grass and weeds encroaching on the pavement/footways.
The footways are County assets, arising from considerable investment.
· They are major conduits between hamlets and settlements,
· Nationally public health is encouraging walking for health and wellbeing reasons - both physical and mental.
· These routes are often the first step into countryside, leading from people's homes.
· These routes should be fit to accommodate people walking, mothers and babies in buggies, motorized wheelchairs even perhaps trampers - for the disabled.
· The width and surfaces need to be maintained in particularly on those routes that will most likely encourage more activity.
This motion therefore calls on the Cabinet Member with Responsibility to bring a report to Cabinet that details the required steps, system and paperwork that would enable a local Parish or Town councils who wish to, to serve and enforce the required notices on land owners on the County Council's behalf; then subsequently to be empowered to side out and maintain the said footways if practicable.”