The drain cover that caused irreparable damage to my wheelchair on one of Hereford’s roads should have been maintained by Herefordshire Council according to the Minister for the Future of Roads, Lillian Greenwood.
She responded to my letter dated the 30th of June 2025 on the issue of the maintenance of drainage covers on the pavement network across England by saying that ” I was very sorry to read about his (Mr Wood’s) unfortunate experience and the irreparable damage to his wheelchair.
“I hope that Mr Wood can be reassured that it is this Government’s ambition for disabled people to have equal access to transport, recognising the needs of both visible and less visible conditions, focused on the whole journeys that people want and need to make. It goes without saying that this includes safety and accessibility for all users on and around the local highway network’.
The Minister added that ” Under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980, the local authority has a duty to keep the highway in a state of responsible repair. This includes the road and the pavement, along with publicly maintainable infrastructure that may include bridges, lighting columns, and drain covers (often referred to as ironworks)”.
” The Act does not set out specific standards of maintenance, as it is for each individual local highway authority to assess which parts of it’s network need repair and what standards should be applied, based upon their local knowledge and circumstances”.
” Whilst the Government has no powers to override local decisions in these matters, Mr Wood might be interested to know that Herefordshire Council’s highway maintenance plan is available to view on their website. However, in many cases, responsibility for defective infrastructure such as ironwork, cabinets, and poles where this is part of the apparatus installed by a utility company lies with the company”.
” Under Section 81 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 places a duty on the utility company to maintain their apparatus. In these circumstances a highway authority’s role is to investigate reports and notify the correct utility company as soon as possible, providing them with as much evidence as they can” the Minister explained.
The information provided by the Minister and her departmental officials is of some reassurance and that gives me a lot of comfort. I asked Herefordshire Council to look at how secure the Ironworks in question are on the 29th of June, but have not received a response from the authority at the time of writing this.
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Cam
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