Pullen’s Lane is a private road and not a highway maintained by public funds or under the management of a public body, or local authority such as Oxford City Council or Oxford County Council. Utilities have a statutory right to carry out works, but the timing of these works must be agreed with the PLA prior to starting work. Such work includes, but it not limited to any work which will involve excavation of the lane or verges. The only exception to this is emergency work where advanced notice is not required.
It is a requirement of any works that reinstatement be carried out to the standard required by the PLA which acts as the Street Manager. These are based on, but may extend, the DOT Code of Practice: Specification for the Reinstatement of Highways (2010) (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/11042/sroh.pdf).
Copy of the above code of practice.
A brief statement of these requirements are as below. Points 2 through 5 may be in addition to the DOT Code of Practice:
- Undertakers are required to follow the DOT specification for the excavation and reinstatement of highways:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/11042/sroh.pdf - If the tarmac surface of the lane needs to be cut into for any reason it must be saw cut with the subsequent removal of material being carried out from inside the area to be excavated towards the sawn edge, not from outside inwards. This is to ensure that the integrity of the surface outside of the cuts is not damaged by the excavation.
- The wearing course comprises 40mm of 10mm SMA which is to be applied hot. This is the same as the material that makes up the current lane surface. The use of cold repair-pack materials is not acceptable e.g. QuickMac or pothole repair material.
- Edges must be primed prior to applying the wearing course of SMA.
- Repairs must be sealed around their edges with hot bitumen.
Parliamentary briefing paper on road, maintenance and repairs and street works.