Weymouth couple baffled by council's 'traffic light' letter (From Dorset Echo)

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Weymouth couple baffled by council's 'traffic light' letter

12:00pm Tuesday 11th August 2009 in News By Dan Goater

James and Julie Long

A COUPLE from Weymouth were baffled to receive a letter demanding they cut back their hedgerows to stop them obscuring traffic lights.

The letter from Weymouth and Portland Borough Council threatened to charge James and Julie Long if the council ends up sending round its own staff to do the job.

The only problem the couple have with the council’s request is that there are no traffic lights to be obscured anywhere near their Radipole Lane home.

James Long, 61, said a highways officer from the council visited his home recently to say there had been two complaints about the size of the privet hedge in his front garden.

Mr Long, who works part-time as a tank fitter at Bovington Camp, said he and his wife were warned that the hedge overhung the pavement and obscured views for motorists.

The couple then received a letter from the council’s highways department saying that the vegetation at the address is ‘overhanging the traffic lights and causing a hazard to motorists’.

The letter warned the Longs that they have 28 days after its receipt to carry out the pruning otherwise the council may exercise powers to carry out the work on their behalf and ‘recover the costs’ from them.

Mrs Long, 57, who suffers from osteoarthritis and is registered disabled, said: “We were quite confused because there have never been any traffic lights outside our house in the 12 years that we’ve lived here.

“I find this very strange because we’re law-abiding citizens.”

Julie added that she and her husband have previously supported campaigns aimed at improving road safety in the area and called for ‘blind summit’ signs to be erected near their home to improve safety on the hill.

Weymouth and Portland Borough Council’s spokesman for community safety Coun Ian James said the council ‘used the wrong letter template’ to contact the couple about their hedgerow.

He said: “Our officer spoke to Mrs Long and told her the hedge needed cutting back, which she agreed to do.

“He then said to her she would have an official letter through the post just to confirm that the hedge would have to be cut back and just as long as the hedge was cut back she could disregard the letter and everything would be fine.

“The fact is, the wrong letter template was used, with four words extra from the one she should have been sent, that also mentioned lights.

“We appreciate this could have caused confusion but would urge Mr and Mrs Long to call the number given on the letter in order to clarify the situation rather than phone the local media.”

Comments(16)

PortlandWilliam says...
12:17pm Tue 11 Aug 09

More attention seekers in a non story. As the council person says - We ... would urge Mr and Mrs Long to call the number given on the letter in order to clarify the situation rather than phone the local media.
Why, oh why, didn't they call the council instead of the paper to save us from this non-news?