Unadopted Roads: Neath Port Talbot councillor to petition government
- Coedffranc North councillor, Keith Davies, is to petition the Welsh Assembly Government to release a percentage of its block grant for the making-up and adoption of these private roads.
- He said: “a number of surveys have been carried out over the years in England & Wales. These have shown that there are 40,000 unadopted roads; in Wales, about 3,000; in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, over 170. In my own ward of Coedffranc North, eight such stretches of road would benefit.”
- He added: “These are not the private roads of gated communities or rural mansions, but the only means of access to the householders who live there. The majority of these streets are a legacy of the coal-mining industry and our industrial past. When the housing was built, only the occasional horse-drawn cart was all you could expect to see on these roads, but today it's much different in traffic use.”
- Under the old council rates system, the state of a street was reflected in the rateable value of the property. There was no such dispensation with the Poll Tax, or, now, the Council Tax. As a result, many residents feel they have paid many times over for services they have never received.
- In addition to the petition to the Assembly, Cllr. Davies will be contacting our local Assembly Members and Paul Murphy, MP, Secretary of State for Wales.
- He concluded by saying: “We're not asking to fix the problem overnight, just the Assembly release a tiny proportion of its block grant to be put aside to tackle this problem of unadopted roads.”
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2 comments:
Thank you Cllr Davies. Good luck on 1st May!
Well done Cllr Keith Davies. In my village the Labour Councillors for many years used to print election leaflets saying "If elected the unadopted roads will be adopted" and then nothing was ever done. We eventually got rid of the Labour story tellers, but the roads are still rough tracks. There are over SEVENTY such roads in Swansea County. I live on one with about thirty houses. I hope you succeed Cllr Davies. Just be wary that people do not see this as an election gimmick false promise, however, we know you are a sincere Councillor.
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