Cul de sac

Onramp · 11-12-2016, 20:34

We don't have VM yet but they're "on their way" to our area.

Our house has a sort-of-shared driveway of to one-side of the corner of a cul-de-sac. Would this present problems for being able to get wayleave from the pavement to my house?

Dodgy drawing:

I don't know how common this is.

jb66 · 11-12-2016, 22:26

I cant tell where the road is and where the pavement is, can you post a link from google maps

Onramp · 11-12-2016, 22:32

I don't want to publish my exact location, I guess I was looking for more of a general idea as to what happens in this sort of situation.

The road is the grey area in the upper right and the pavement is the white area before the curved dotted line.

jb66 · 11-12-2016, 22:43

They will probably put a tee where the garden meets the pavment and dig a line to your house

Onramp · 12-12-2016, 00:10

That sounds like it would be the most practical thing - I thought the neighbours opposite might own the driveway that passes my front garden - but that might not be the case.

**Chris** · 12-12-2016, 00:22

If there is a shared portion of driveway then you should find in your deeds that you have right of access over it.

However, as has been said, VM will prefer to just dig across your lawn.

Osem · 12-12-2016, 21:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Onramp

Dodgy drawing:

I don't know how common this is.

Dodgy drawing is very common.

weesteev · 13-12-2016, 13:38

Unless permission is granted to dig in the driveway then a termination box will be dropped in the footpath as close to the property as possible, it will then be down to the install team to judge the best route for the cable (or blown fibre tube if FTTP).

Onramp · 14-12-2016, 17:53

Thanks for the info, weesteev!

Onramp · 14-12-2016, 21:19

Here is a clearer image.

My concern is that the neighbours to the right of me would be able to prevent the termination box from being placed outside my grass, despite that being the edge of my own area.

My understanding is that if the driveway is indeed a private shared right of way, I might have to get an underground services easement signed by all the surrounding property owners who have a right to use that area of tarmac. If that is indeed the case, I can imagine that VM would not themselves do that during the street works, so therefore they would place the termination box at the footpath boundary since that is probably "as close to the property as possible".

It would then be for me to get everyone to agree for me to excavate and reinstate the shared driveway between my garden and the termination box out on the path. I can't see my neighbours on the right (in the diagram) allowing this since the lady there has to get her car in and out of her own driveway regularly to take her kids to school.

My hope is that there is not a private shared driveway and that the area is actually public highway...

weesteev · 16-12-2016, 23:04

It is a private drive, you are best to talk with your neighbours as ironically your neighbour (to the right) would be the last person on the duct route to get service without wayleave.

Onramp · 16-12-2016, 23:18

I see - I thought that might be the case. Looks like my options then are either for my neighbour to agree to a trench passing through their property in front of their drive, or to rent another house that already has a cabled footpath directly touching its boundary.

Is it normally only that neighbour (or their landlord) that would have to agree, or would it be everyone who owns a piece of the shared driveway, even though their own section of that driveway wouldn't be excavated? (i.e. they have a right to enter / exit the area themselves and might object to the temporary disruption)

Finally, is this something that would have to have been confirmed (wayleave or easement between VM and my neighbour) ahead of such time as the fibre is laid down in the rest of the street, in order to be able to go ahead with the install at my house later on?

Reason I ask: From what I've read before, the install techs won't dig a trench through via hard driveway (wayleave or not) from a floor box that's out on the pavement edge - but that supposedly, if requested ahead of time while the street is in the planning stage, maybe the contractors could place the floor box at the edge of the grass area on my own driveway at that point, assuming the right agreements are also signed by the neighbours?

Sorry if this is a bit confusing, I'm probably not using the right terminology.

weesteev you have been very helpful to me recently with my situation, I appreciate that. It would be somewhat ironic if after all this, I'm out of luck due to a 3m strip being off-limits. I'll talk to my neighbours. They're nice people, I don't want to upset them by disrupting their driveway ideally, so if they say no, I'll probably move house to one with a favourable setup.

weesteev · 18-12-2016, 13:10

Hi Onramp

You are spot on, if its a shared private driveway then all owners would have to consent, would be beneficial in advance of any works if agreement was in place as all properties on the driveway would then get access to service at the point of build.

You are also correct that installs teams aren't geared for this kind of work, this would have to be carried out by a civil engineering contractor. Wayleave can be agreed well in advance and is just the case of each resident signing a wayleave form agreeing to the install of the duct (or blown fibre tube) network in the land. This would then become part of the services maintenance record on the property deeds (the same way gas, electric, Openreach would already be covered).

Unfortunately all it takes is one person to not agree for us not to be able to dig in areas like this, it happens all too often. I would speak with all the residents first and make sure that it wont be an issue.

Onramp · 18-12-2016, 14:32

Right - thanks for confirming that.

It looks like I would need 4 people to agree (well, more than that because some have landlords). I won't pester anyone before christmas. I imagine the street works won't start in our area for probably at least 4 - 6 months yet anyway.

Here's hoping...

Hom3r · 18-12-2016, 19:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Onramp

I don't want to publish my exact location, I guess I was looking for more of a general idea as to what happens in this sort of situation.

The road is the grey area in the upper right and the pavement is the white area before the curved dotted line.

Take a screen grab of a close up