Some weeks back I grumbled to the local council about a dropped kerb on my way to the park. I say dropped kerb, but it's a bit special. A house has done the usual, and carved a parking space out of their garden. My thoughts on converting gardens to car parks is well-known, and it doesn't seem a battle I'm going to win, so hey-ho. But in this case, the front garden is a good metre or more above the road, which is about two metres away. Previously there was a steep grass verb separating the pavement from the road.
Basically:
garden ---\
\
\---road
So they took out the verge and replaced it with a steep bit of tarmac that flattens off for the pavement section. I'd say the gradient is about 30% if not more. I'm not sure how anyone thought that was a good idea, there's clearly no way anyone can get a car over it without it bottoming out, and judging from the scratches on the tarmac someone tried just once.
The parking space isn't big enough for a modern car, so the flat bit of pavement would be blocked if someone could get a car up there. Anyone who has poor vision or is in a wheelchair and makes a misjudgement will basically have a steep and nasty fall into the roadway. It's black tarmac, there's no distinction between flat and slope, no tactile edging, and if it ever gets icy, which black tarmac will, it's going to be lethal.
I can't believe everyone looked at this and didn't see the problem. Anyway, chatting with the local councillor earlier and mentioning the verve in which my complaint is being followed up on, it seems that the owners of the house in question and in dispute with the council for putting in an unusable 'dropped kerb', the council are in dispute with their contractor, etc. It's like a carnival of stupid from everyone involved. It's 2022, councils shouldn't even be facilitating this shit at the best of times, but this is criminally bad.
