Almost a year ago a car came off the A508 in Cosgrove ending up in the ditch. The leaves returned to the trees and obscured the view. The ditch is 3 or 4 metres below the road surface. For WNC it is a case of out of sight and out of mind.
For a number of months I have been battling with WNC and Northants Police as to who has the responsibility to remove the car. Both said it was the other.
Recently, WNC who initially could not locate the car, eventually admitted that yes it was there in the ditch and they would have it removed. They said that due to the traffic volume and speed on the A508 it would require a road closure and some patience was required.
Recently they have reviewed their position to state that they will NOT remove the car because it is too expensive. The cost at £800 is prohibitively too high. Instead they propose to leave the car to rot in the ditch.
Due to the location of the vehicle and the speed of the road, for safety reasons we will need to close the carriageway to carry out any removal. The estimated cost for this work is £800 (average of two quotes).
The contractor, who would normally have their costs covered by the ELVIS agreement (SLA between us and the police) have quoted £300 to remove the vehicle with specialist equipment, due to the difficulties in the location and safety aspects.
This is utter nonsense. The oil and petrol I assume are still in the car. It could contaminate water courses. If WNC think that abandoning a car in a ditch out of sight of the highway is acceptable this will be open season for cars being rolled into the ditches throughout the district.
The costs they argue are an average of £800 from two quotations, yet they say it their normal contractor will charge £300, so the second quote must be for £1300.
WNC admit they have a legal duty to remove the car stating that
The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 places a duty upon us to remove vehicles where it appears to a LA that a vehicle in its area is abandoned. The duty applies to all land in the open air or any land forming part of the highway.
However they then argue that the law allows a release from that duty if the costs of removing the car to the carriageway is prohibitively high. The assessment of what constitutes a prohibitive cost is left to the council and they are hiding being this excuse for their inaction.
WNC conclude in their response to me
Considering the current budgetary position, the visibility of the vehicle and the value of the vehicle it is my view that the cost of recovery is unreasonably high and therefore we do not intend to remove the vehicle at this time.
None of this makes any sense. I have consulted with the local Parish Council which were very clear in their response, the car needs to be removed, WNC need to remove it and the Parish will NOT make any contribution the costs of removal. This position is right and I fully support them.
I will continue to press WNC to remove the car, take steps to trace the owner or insurer and recharge the costs to them.