East Hanney garden wall knocked down TWICE this year by HGVs

Edward Collins, who lives with his wife in Mill Orchard, East Hanney, said he is “aggrieved” by the situation and believes Oxfordshire County Council, the highways authority, should be held responsible for the damage.

He said the council should fix the wall as they are “allowing oversized lorries” to deliver to the Lagan Home development off School Road.

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The development is for 15 dwellings approved by South Oxfordshire District Council, the planning authority, in 2016 despite concerns from the parish council about vehicular access.

The garden wall in East Hanney is still damaged

Mr Collins, who has lived in Mill Orchard since 2007, said if the council refuse to fix his wall, which was damaged for a second time on Tuesday, July 12 at about 6.30am, he will install bollards on his land which will cause “unbelievable chaos”.

“This is the second time this year the wall has been demolished,” he said. “We hold the council responsible for this damage as thy are allowing oversized lorries to deliver to the building site just past St James Primary school.

“The right-angle bend where Mill Orchard joins Brookside is totally unsuited to allow large articulated lorries to negotiate this bed when proceeding from East to West Hanney.

“When they drivers realise they are going to knock the wall down on the North side of the Letcombe Brook Bridge they have to back up and this is mostly when our wall is demolished as they reverse into it.

A car using the couple's land to move out of the way of a large lorry

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“Before taking this matter further and installing our own protection in the form of Steel RSJs embedded 1,500mm into the ground, we would like to meet the council on sit to try and resolve this issue because when we install bollards no vehicles will be able to take refuge on our land which will cause the road to be blocked until drivers have sorted themselves out.”

Mr Collins has sent a letter to the council requesting a meeting but has had response.

“They couldn’t care less,” he said. “It’s galling when we have bricks strown all over the garden and pavement.”

A spokesperson for the county council said: “Repairs are a matter for the homeowner and the operators of the vehicle which caused the damage.

The black mark is where the proposed bollards will go stopping people using the land causing "unbelievable chaos"

“Oxfordshire County Council does have a responsibility to make sure the highway is safe for road users following the incident.

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“Lorries are discouraged from using the roads in the area and advisory signage is in place that the roads are unsuitable for HGVs.

“However, there is no weight restriction in place therefore lorries are allowed to use the road.”

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Read more from this author

This story was written by Gee Harland, she joined the team in 2022 as a senior multimedia reporter.

Gee covers Wallingford, Wantage and Didcot.

Get in touch with her by emailing: Gee.harland@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @Geeharland

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