How should I proceed with my local council regarding potholes causing damage to my house?
My house is very close, (just over three metres at the closest point), to a busy A-road that carries a lot of HGV traffic. Just over three months ago a depression and potholes appeared in the road just the other side of my garden wall. The result was a lot of clattering noise and vibration to the house when HGV's passed over the faults in the road. Cracks appeared and widened in the garden wall and in the house, with a structural engineer writing that, in his opinion, the faults in the road were contributing to this cracking.
Subsequently, the County Council has had two attempts at fixing the problem. The first was a small tarmac patch, about eight feet by three feet. That didn't work. The second, carried out just before Easter, is a larger Tarmac patch, about 30 feet by five feet. Unfortunately, the tarmac patch is uneven and the clattering and vibration issues are very nearly as bad as they were before any repair was attempted. I advised the County Council of this nearly three weeks ago and asked them what further action they would take to properly fix the problems. To date I have had no reply, despite sending two further emails asking for a response. Apart from the inconvenience, sleep disturbance and anxiety caused by the constant clattering and vibration, I am sure that some damage must be being done to the house, parts of which are over 300 years old. Do you have any suggestions as to what I could do next to try to get a satisfactory resolution?
Subsequently, the County Council has had two attempts at fixing the problem. The first was a small tarmac patch, about eight feet by three feet. That didn't work. The second, carried out just before Easter, is a larger Tarmac patch, about 30 feet by five feet. Unfortunately, the tarmac patch is uneven and the clattering and vibration issues are very nearly as bad as they were before any repair was attempted. I advised the County Council of this nearly three weeks ago and asked them what further action they would take to properly fix the problems. To date I have had no reply, despite sending two further emails asking for a response. Apart from the inconvenience, sleep disturbance and anxiety caused by the constant clattering and vibration, I am sure that some damage must be being done to the house, parts of which are over 300 years old. Do you have any suggestions as to what I could do next to try to get a satisfactory resolution?
Asked on 12 May 2011 by MF, Ashbourne
Answered by
Honest John
This is very serious because it could be causing hundreds of thousands of pounds of damage to the house. So you need to go to the expense of getting a good specialist solicitor involved (not an ordinary jack of all trades solicitor, so quiz a few solicitors first). Then pay for a report by a structural engineer.
JW of Glenrothes helpfully wrote: “Further to your response to LC of London SW18 on 7 May, you may be interested to learn that report TRL 235 published by the Transport Research Laboratory in 1997 concluded that to "reduce the risks of complaints to a low value then consideration should be given to imposing a minimum distance of 11m" (between road humps and buildings). Any roads authority which disregards this recommendation will need to have shown that it has investigated the matter fully including ground conditions, traffic demograph and adequate condition surveys of relevant properties. Without this data, I would have thought that the charge of causing structural damage from ground borne vibration generated by road humps would be difficult to refute.”
JW of Glenrothes helpfully wrote: “Further to your response to LC of London SW18 on 7 May, you may be interested to learn that report TRL 235 published by the Transport Research Laboratory in 1997 concluded that to "reduce the risks of complaints to a low value then consideration should be given to imposing a minimum distance of 11m" (between road humps and buildings). Any roads authority which disregards this recommendation will need to have shown that it has investigated the matter fully including ground conditions, traffic demograph and adequate condition surveys of relevant properties. Without this data, I would have thought that the charge of causing structural damage from ground borne vibration generated by road humps would be difficult to refute.”
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