Overgrown verges

[TooMany2cvs]

V8 Fettler said:

Doesn't the taxpayer pay ministers, civil servants and public sector managers large amounts of money each year to take care of the detailed allocation of budgets?

What is lacking is an organisation to effectively represent road users.

Lovely, but well done on missing the actual point of my post. I suspect deliberately.

[Drumroll]

Here is a novel idea the OP gets a few friends together and they cut the verges themselves. it's called community spirit. People in our village have just cleaned out a local brook. We can moan as much as we like but Council budgets have been cut and they have to make decisions on what to spend money on.

[mattyc69]

Drumroll said:

Here is a novel idea the OP gets a few friends together and they cut the verges themselves. it's called community spirit. People in our village have just cleaned out a local brook. We can moan as much as we like but Council budgets have been cut and they have to make decisions on what to spend money on.

We have plenty of that so thanks for your "novel idea"

Unfortunately it would probably take a lot of us a long time to cut back 3 miles of overgrown verges on both sides of the road, we will then run into the issue as mentioned earlier in this post that the council are leaving the verges for environmental reasons and all end up getting bked for the pleasure.

[mph1977]

Riley Blue said:

It's the driver's responsibility to drive to prevailing conditions. If you drive like a tt when you can't see clearly, irrespective of the reason, you have only yourself to blame for the consequences.

didn;t know personal responsibility was abolished along with boom and bust by mr tony blair , the fabric maniac who ran your country ...

[cmaguire]

mattyc69 said:

We have plenty of that so thanks for your "novel idea"

Unfortunately it would probably take a lot of us a long time to cut back 3 miles of overgrown verges on both sides of the road, we will then run into the issue as mentioned earlier in this post that the council are leaving the verges for environmental reasons and all end up getting bked for the pleasure.

You wouldn't be permitted to do it on safety grounds (road signs, approvals, HSE assessments etc required)

[Drumroll]

That would only apply if you told the council you were doing it. We didn't tell the council we were cleaning the beck, just got on and did it. Doesn't mean we were unsafe or reckless.

[cmaguire]

Drumroll said:

That would only apply if you told the council you were doing it. We didn't tell the council we were cleaning the beck, just got on and did it. Doesn't mean we were unsafe or reckless.

Big difference between paddling around in a stream and carrying out work on a public road where you will interact with others not involved in what you are doing and unaware you are doing it.

[Red Devil]

mph1977 said:

Riley Blue said:

It's the driver's responsibility to drive to prevailing conditions. If you drive like a tt when you can't see clearly, irrespective of the reason, you have only yourself to blame for the consequences.

didn;t know personal responsibility was abolished along with boom and bust by mr tony blair , the fabric maniac who ran your country ...

It wasn't Blair who claimed to have achieved that abolition. It was the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/sep/11/go...

[V8 Fettler]

TooMany2cvs said:

V8 Fettler said:

Doesn't the taxpayer pay ministers, civil servants and public sector managers large amounts of money each year to take care of the detailed allocation of budgets?

What is lacking is an organisation to effectively represent road users.

Lovely, but well done on missing the actual point of my post. I suspect deliberately.

Your point was not missed, the answer is that taxpayer's (including me) already pay ministers, civil servants and public sector managers large amounts of money each year to take care of the detailed allocation of budgets. Why would you pay someone to do something and then do it yourself?

[TooMany2cvs]

V8 Fettler said:

TooMany2cvs said:

V8 Fettler said:

Doesn't the taxpayer pay ministers, civil servants and public sector managers large amounts of money each year to take care of the detailed allocation of budgets?

What is lacking is an organisation to effectively represent road users.

Lovely, but well done on missing the actual point of my post. I suspect deliberately.

Your point was not missed, the answer is that taxpayer's (including me) already pay ministers, civil servants and public sector managers large amounts of money each year to take care of the detailed allocation of budgets. Why would you pay someone to do something and then do it yourself?

OK, so you took my point, but deliberately went off on a complete tangent, avoiding the actual point that you didn't miss.

[V8 Fettler]

TooMany2cvs said:

V8 Fettler said:

TooMany2cvs said:

V8 Fettler said:

Doesn't the taxpayer pay ministers, civil servants and public sector managers large amounts of money each year to take care of the detailed allocation of budgets?

What is lacking is an organisation to effectively represent road users.

Lovely, but well done on missing the actual point of my post. I suspect deliberately.

Your point was not missed, the answer is that taxpayer's (including me) already pay ministers, civil servants and public sector managers large amounts of money each year to take care of the detailed allocation of budgets. Why would you pay someone to do something and then do it yourself?

OK, so you took my point, but deliberately went off on a complete tangent, avoiding the actual point that you didn't miss.

I can see that you're distressed and disconcerted that you didn't receive the answer you were expecting. You'll need to accept that you've had the answer and that you need to get on with your life, such as it is.

[coppice]

It may be news to some but public sector spending has been slashed again and again.Verge maintenance isn't cheap , nor is it essential (except in the case of dangerously obscured junctions ) and I actually prefer overgrown verges on many roads - good to see some wild flowers etc instead of the monoculture which agriculture involves so often . Oddly enough,enjoying driving and interest in the environment aren't mutually exclusive and if you can't drive according to conditions you really shouldn't be out .

[V8 Fettler]

How much an hour does it cost to employ a local farmer and his flail?

The problem with driving to the conditions is that other people don't and yet that's treated as a "genuine mistake":

http://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/man-avoids-j...

[mattyc69]

coppice said:

It may be news to some but public sector spending has been slashed again and again.Verge maintenance isn't cheap , nor is it essential (except in the case of dangerously obscured junctions ) and I actually prefer overgrown verges on many roads - good to see some wild flowers etc instead of the monoculture which agriculture involves so often . Oddly enough,enjoying driving and interest in the environment aren't mutually exclusive and if you can't drive according to conditions you really shouldn't be out .

Yet again someone judging my driving without knowing me, the overgrown verges are along the road causing plenty of dangerous bends etc... As said aswell I can drive carefully but unfortunately not everyone does.

Average charge for a contractor is about £30 an hour for headcutting with fuel supplied by the farmer, so add £10 for 2 hours worth of fuel and for about £70 the council could gove the a village of a 1000 people a safe journey to there nearest town.

[Rovinghawk]

TooMany2cvs said:

where would you spend £20-odd billion less?

Pakistan's nuclear weapons program. India's nuclear weapons program. India's space program.

Waste in the NHS. Waste in the rest of the public sector. Benefits for those who could work but can't be bothered. Motability payments for those who are taking the proverbial. EU payments to subsidise PIIGS.

I presume that those inconvenienced by any cuts here have greater influence than motorists.

[Johnnytheboy]

coppice said:

Oddly enough,enjoying driving and interest in the environment aren't mutually exclusive and if you can't drive according to conditions you really shouldn't be out .

Irrelevant, for reason already explained.

Johnnytheboy said:

...it's all very well me driving slowly to mitigate the lack of verge cutting in narrow country lanes, but I can't guarantee that the person coming the other way will do the same.

[TooMany2cvs]

Rovinghawk said:

TooMany2cvs said:

where would you spend £20-odd billion less?

Pakistan's nuclear weapons program. India's nuclear weapons program. India's space program.

Lovely, an' all. But the UK government doesn't fund those.

Rovinghawk said:

Waste in the NHS.

Over 20% of the NHS budget's waste? Really...?

Rovinghawk said:

Waste in the rest of the public sector. Benefits for those who could work but can't be bothered. Motability payments for those who are taking the proverbial. EU payments to subsidise PIIGS.

I presume that those inconvenienced by any cuts here have greater influence than motorists.

Perhaps you've missed the last six years of "austerity"? Damn near every bit of fat and waste has already been trimmed.

[mattyc69]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/ind...

I think you will find unfortunately we are still giving money to India.

[Morningside]

Amazing after doing weeks of fk all and the exit near Henham being very hard to see out of when turning right they seem to have found the time and money to do it during Lattitude.

[TooMany2cvs]

mattyc69 said:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/ind...

I think you will find unfortunately we are still giving money to India.

That's referring to "last year" and is a 2015 article. So 2014 money...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-3439844...