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Council threatens legal action against councillor who cut down vegetation blocking pathWeddington Road, Nuneaton.PNG

Council threatens legal action against councillor who cut down vegetation blocking path

Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council says action by Green councillor could constitute criminal damage
by Simon_MacMichael
Mon, Aug 09, 2021 17:39
38

A council has threatened a councillor with legal action after he cleared away vegetation that had been blocking a footway in the town.

Keith Kondakor, a Green councillor on Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council, shared a letter on Twitter that he had received via email from the council’s director for Democracy, Planning & Public Protection, Philip Richardson.

Kondakor shared the letter in response to a post on the social network from cycling blogger and campaigner Danny Williams, who had retweeted a picture of an off-road cycle path in Poole that had been rendered impassable due to overgrown bushes and ferns.

“Wow. That’s a cycle path under that undergrowth,” wrote Williams. “Nationally, we have loads of bits of cycle infrastructure. Nationally, our local authorities and transport agencies don’t maintain it. They only maintain for cars.”

Kondakor wrote on Twitter: “And in Nuneaton I get a threatening email from @NBBCouncil when I do some trimming to vegetation obstructing the pavement. I am the borough councillor and it had been reported by my wife in May and several others in June.”

In the letter he received from the Conservative-controlled council, acknowledged that he had informed the council of his “cutting back vegetation which is overhanging the public highway.” The location concerned was Weddington Road, which has a footways on both sides, as well as a shared use path.

The letter said, “This is an activity that is normally undertaken on behalf of the Council by its grounds maintenance contractor and is not something that elected members are required or expected to do.

“If you continue with undertaking works activities after receipt of this e-mail, I shall have no choice but to consider seeking an interim injunction to restrain you from continuing to do so. Furthermore, this activity could amount to criminal damage, which is a criminal offence. In such circumstances, I  will not hesitate to have the matter referred to the police for investigation.

“I appreciate that the footway was partially obstructed by the vegetation, but it is a matter for the Council to resolve, not by an elected member to take matters into their own hands.”

The letter also highlighted that by “taking on activities that are clearly outside of your remit as a Councillor,” Mr Kondakar would not benefit from the indemnity he would usually enjoy for activities carried out in his role at the council.

The council told him that “No indemnity can be given where the activity constitutes a criminal offence; or where there is deliberate wrongdoing,” and that should any claim arise from his actions, “you will be personally liable for any loss or damage caused by you” – including potentially being joined as a defendant in any proceedings brought against the council.

Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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38 comments

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ktache replied to eburtthebike | 3 years ago
9 likes

hmmm...

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Awavey replied to eburtthebike | 3 years ago
0 likes

absolutely, but there is a legally accepted way of doing it, you cant just lop bits off your neighbours shrubbery you take a dislike to, and it will be treated as criminal damage if you dont follow the proper course of action.

and its similar with any overgrowing bush in a cycle lane, the council are legally charged with maintaining it, so if you intervene, even if you are only trying to be helpful, the council are totally within their rights to warn you to desist, as it is technically considered criminal damage.

Avatar
Hirsute replied to Awavey | 3 years ago
1 like

What is the proper course of action, as you can just lop bits off that are on your property

http://www.problemneighbours.co.uk/rights-trees-and-overhanging-branches...

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Awavey replied to Hirsute | 3 years ago
0 likes

Well its pretty much as the advice on that website says, the bits you cut off belong to your neighbour still,so you have to offer to return them, you cant just cut them off & chuck them back over the fence, you cant go on their property to get better access without their permission, and though it doesnt say it there that clearly you cant damage it beyond your boundary.

All of those are things people regularly still do and end up being taken to court by their neighbours for trespass or criminal damage.

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TriTaxMan replied to Awavey | 3 years ago
2 likes

In such circumstances then should the cyclists report it to the council and advise them that if they fail to take remedial action within a reasonable timescale (2 weeks) that they will be commencing litigation against the council for deriliction of their duties? I beleive section 41 of the Highways Act is the relevant statute.

Or better still.... go and have an accident on the path and sue the council for damages after they don't do anything about it

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Awavey replied to TriTaxMan | 3 years ago
0 likes

Ironically yes absolutely, report it then make a formal complaint if nothing is done, I doubt theyd have acted within 2 weeks though and theyd probably have said they couldn't do anything in bird nesting season anyway, all you can really hope for is a guarantee of it's on the to do list.

But yes when dealing with officialdom technically following rules, find a rule they are technically breaking.

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Captain Badger replied to Awavey | 3 years ago
3 likes
Awavey wrote:

possibly it is, as anyone has had to deal with the thorny (sic) issue of trimming bushes overhanging your garden from a neighbours property, it can be a legal minefield and technically can be considered criminal damage if you just cut stuff down without landowners permission, however helpful you are being, just as if youd gone to the park and dug up the councils prize winning rose beds instead.

so I can understand why they felt the need for the letter, rather than some friendlier quiet advice because they need to head off any possibility of legal recourse, or comebacks as a result and disassociate themselves as it being official council taken action

the danger is also, and this has happened, if people have reported the overhanging vegetation to the council, and the council send out a team to do the work after the well meaning individual has done their bit of pruning, the council team dont query by how much further it has to be cut back and will simply cut back whatever is left, including to the point of totally removing whats left.

I too understand that they may need to follow due process. However, a letter threatening legal action is pure spite and vindictiveness, and certainly would not have happened had the "offender" been a tory councillor*

As others have mentioned a quiet word, in or out of the chamber, would have sufficed. This action is more about bullying than anything else.

*who am I kidding, a tory councillor acting for the greater good...

Avatar
eburtthebike replied to Captain Badger | 3 years ago
2 likes
Captain Badger wrote:

*who am I kidding, a tory councillor acting for the greater good...

Thee dint half make I laff.

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