The Methleigh Fence

How long does it take to fix a fence? “It depends…” I can imagine you all saying! OK, if your garden fence had blown down and your dog was at risk of escaping then you might put up a temporary barrier and then buy the materials to fix it yourself or get a fencing contractor to do the whole lot. How long would it take? A week? Two? How about six and a half years?

Yes, six and a half years is the time taken for CC/Cormac to start work on the Methleigh Bottoms fence from when first alerted by a PEG member (a former Chairman) to actually starting the work. Even after lots of reminding in between. And I know they acknowledged it needed doing back then because the Highways Inspector added green spray paint marks on all the posts that were ‘wobbly’ and added to them for the next few years.

The Highways Manager assured me that it was not an easy job because they built it wrong (cheap?) in the first place! (There must be a moral here). Underneath the pavement tarmac are gabions – steel mesh cages filled with rocks. These should have had sockets inserted into which a fence post could be placed such that if it ever rotted, the tarmac could be chipped away, the post changed then resealed. Simple. However, it wasn’t done like that so now they’ve got a much longer (and more expensive) job to do. Added to that problem, the street light cable runs under the tarmac…

But at least/last they are doing it now. 😉 And it’s all in galvanized steel!