Bid to get council to adopt road

RESIDENTS in a pothole-ridden road in Yatton have formed a committee to try to convince North Somerset Council to help.Since 1939 anyone who has bought a house in Wakedean Gardens must take on joint responsibility to maintain the road.There are around 60 houses in the street, but because the road has not been adopted by North Somerset Council as a public highway, it does not have the responsibility to maintain it.Residents now hope that Wakedean Gardens Residents Committee can work with the council and get it to agree to adopt the road, although they say they realise it could cost them in the region of £300,000 in the form of a 'loan' from the authority.Committee chairman, Heidi Pople, aged 40, said: "We invited all residents to our first meeting and seven people including myself were elected from them."Our next step is to conduct a survey to find out how many people in the road are happy to have the road repairs done and supply this information and our proposals for the street to the council."It could cost each household around £5,000 and there may well be a minority who are not happy with this, but we have to accept the fact that if the council is to adopt the road and take on the repairs, then it may be necessary. "We realise it is a lot of money and understand that it is not easy for anyone to find, but if we get a majority vote from residents then we can put our proposals for the repairs to the council. "It is also worth pointing out that when the work is done it will add value to the homes and make them more saleable."The committee is also looking at ways to reduce the costs of repairs by co-ordinating all the work which would have to be done by utility companies. Heidi added: "We will be speaking to all the main service providers in the hope that we can get all the work needed done at the same time rather than areas of the road being constantly dug up and replaced, which would cost more money.