Pavement Refurbishment: Devonshire Road

Local Services
#22

Hi Sophie,

Can I just ask, is the plan for whole road being re-paved?

Thanks

Brett

#23

Hi all,

@LeoGibbons, Peter and I met the contractors (Kensons Highway) at the road today.
Just an update on a few points that were raised here:

  • Corner of Woodcombe Crescent: this should be fixed next Thursday (17th)
  • Reason why some parts of the road have paving & others tarmac: The Councilā€™s preference is for blocks (paving) but sometimes this isnā€™t possible - two examples are where it makes it too difficult for cars to access driveways, or (for example in front of Drakes Court) where tree roots are too high to allow for paving (the Council doesnā€™t want tree roots to be damaged, to protect trees).
  • Remaining ā€œsnagsā€ (where works are unfinished, or not finished well) - there is a process called ā€œsnaggingā€ that takes place when the works are complete, whereby the contractor and Council officers walk the road to record all the remaining issues and agree how to fix them. This is taking place next week (w/c14th) & the ā€œsnagsā€ will be fixed after that (likely after Christmas, unless they present a risk).
  • Some of the remaining issues are the responsibility of utility companies - for example, there is an exposed cable, which contractors are waiting for BT to address. We have arranged a call with Thames Water to follow up a number of these, and Kensons have told us that they will follow up with other utility providers next week.
  • Finally, Kensons reiterated their apology for the works taking as long as they did, and for noise over the previous weekend.

@Brett - I donā€™t know about the second half of the road yet (roads usually get bundled into batches for resurfacing and we get told ahead of the new financial year) - I am following up with Highways.

I will email people who have notified me about specific issues with their property separately but otherwise please email us about anything we havenā€™t covered and Iā€™ll follow up.

Sophie

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#24

Thanks for taking such a proactive approach to dealing with all of this Sophie - itā€™s greatly appreciated.

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#25

Thanks @SophieDavis

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#26

Really? The refurb has been poorly executed and dragging on for seven months.

Proactive might have been taking the opportunity of the refurb to widen the pavements, or postponing this non-essential work to divert resources to the very poor pedestrian crossings near the station, used by thousands every day.

Before someone tells me itā€™s a different budget, let me reiterate that politics is the art of the possible, getting stuff done that needs doing.

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