Road surfacing curbed by kerb height argument

The final surfacing and completion of our current works on site has been delayed due to a detailing issue raised by Swindon Borough Council which is applicable to all developers on the Wichelstowe Development. We are currently working with Taylor Wimpey who are the lead developer, together with SBC, to resolve this issue as soon as possible.

According to Councillor Nadine Watts, the only issue the council is aware of is kerb heights.

One of Taylor Wimpey’s contractors has advised the Council that they have overcome this issue elsewhere on East Wichel, so they have asked Barratts’ designer and Marshalls (manufacturer of the kerbs) to get in contact with them to identify how the matter was resolved and hopefully have the solution implemented elsewhere.

The Wichelstowe design code — which is part of the conditions under which the developers were given permission to build in East Wichel — specifies the heights of kerbs in section 5.43 of Part 1 of the code.

150mm high except on STAr [East Wichel Way] and bus routes where it is 160mm high.

The code dates from February 2007 and identifies kerb stones manufactured by Marshalls Ltd that are deemed to satisfy the requirement. The kerb stones specified are still in Marshalls’ catalogue. Roads in the Bloor Homes area of East Wichel were surfaced, apparently satisfactorily, in 2011.

With everything that Barratt’s needed to know about kerb heights apparently having been around for some time, it’s puzzling why it has them so long to identify what they need to do to surface a road and leave reasonable kerb heights.