Agenda item

Subject to the required notice being given, members of the public can ask questions of the Leader of the Council, Portfolio Holders or Chairmen of Committees.

The Chairman shall determine the number of questions to be tabled at a particular meeting in order to limit the time for questions and answers to 21 minutes.

One question has been received, on notice, from a member of the public on this occasion.

Subject to the required notice being given, members of the public could ask questions of the Leader of the Council, Portfolio Holders or Chairmen of Committees.

One question had been received, on notice, from a member of the public on this occasion.

Question

Jan Vincent asked the Chairman of the Planning Committee, Councillor John White:-

“Will TDC issue a Section 215 TCPA for Bel-Air Chalet Estate, St. Osyth Beach, to make safe the extremely dangerous roads on the Holiday Park which are unusable by wheelchair users and hazardous to public and holiday makers?

The roads are hidden dangers at night as all street lighting has been disconnected.  The danger is compounded and hidden after rainfall as the potholes become filled with rainwater which is slow to drain as TDC Planning gave permission years ago for the natural drainage dykes to be filled in without any inspection of the works done.  The potholes are so deep a person or child could drown if they fell into a pothole and were rendered unconscious in the fall.  There are no pavements to avoid the danger.  Two Ambulances got stuck in the roads last year causing danger to life by delay of medical treatment.”

Councillor White replied to that question as follows:-

“Thank you, Chairman and thank you Ms Vincent for the Question.

I am aware that you met the Chief Executive and that more recently you had a meeting with the Corporate Director for Operations and Delivery, together with our Assistant Director for Planning, to discuss a variety of issues and concerns about the Bel-Air Estate. This is soon to be followed, by a further meeting with you on site which hopefully will include the Police. The Council is keen to work across its services and in partnership with other agencies to tackle the range of issues that have been identified. It is keen to employ the relevant powers available and most appropriate.

With regards to the use of Section 215 Notices to tackle the particular problems described about the condition of roads at Bel-Air, I am advised that this would not be an appropriate means by which to take action having regard to the purpose of Section 215 Notices under the legislation and the grounds upon which a landowner could appeal against such a Notice. I have asked the Assistant Director for Planning to provide you with the full and technical reasoning for that in writing.

The disconnection of the lighting does not constitute an issue of poor maintenance for which Section 215 Notices are designed to tackle. The potholes affect a private road within the Chalet Estate, is not adopted and is not otherwise available to the general public. Because the amenity enjoyed by the wider public and neighbours is not affected by the condition of the internal road, a Section 215 Notice is not appropriate in this instance.

However, our Officers are exploring other means by which these issues could  be addressed and how best the owners can be engaged in sensible discussions about the proper maintenance of their site.

In your question you mentioned that two ambulances got stuck in the roads last year. My understanding is that this was in the estate approach Seaview Road, also an unadopted road. Here the responsibility of the road repairs is in the hands of the adjacent property owners with their Riparian rights and that comes under a completely different legislation namely Section 230 of the Highways Act 1980.”