This letter is to inform you that you will be receiving more of the enclosed petitions with regard to the state of a section of Church Lane as described in the petition. Also enclosed are photographs of the road taken on January 17 2019.
To date we have received no assistance in dealing with the situation from your Authority, in fact we feel our plight has been ignored with disdain. The section of road referred to is now on the verge of being impassable for all but Land Rover type vehicles and at present can only be traversed by the average car criss-crossing at walking speed in an attempt to avoid damage to the vehicle. An aged neighbour informs me that staff who visit her from North Walsham hospital will now only visit the estate in a 4x4 vehicle. The driver delivering my gas bottles told me that he may not be able to continue to supply customers at Eccles because of the road. I know for a fact that at least one of my neighbours lost the potential sale of their property as the interested buyer stopped at the end of the tarmac road and phoned my neighbour to apologise for cancellation of the viewing because of the state of the road. 
My family have been visiting Eccles since the late seventies and we bought Eastholme during 1984 — when the sea wall was in process of being constructed - in those days I would guess that about three quarters of the bungalows on the estate were holiday homes - now it is the other way round. At that time there was nowhere near the traffic that we have nowadays and the roads were in a reasonable state then. The advent of the internet and the increase of permanent occupation has lead to the arrival of delivery vans by the dozen, also a big increase of heavy vehicles including large trucks bringing oil, gas, building materials, skips, huge waste collection vehicles etc — there has been much improvement work carried out on estate properties during the past few years including new-build, so it is not surprising that the roads have deteriorated. In addition to that there wasn't the rainfall in those days - I cannot remember seeing flooded fields in winter until recent times and it is excessive precipitation that is one of our main problems where the roads are concerned. 
So I think it is unfair to say — and I quote from a letter sent by your department to Michael Mayhew during 1916  'You knew what the situation was when you made your home at Eccles'  Unfair? Yes, because firstly, as I wrote above, the roads were in an acceptable condition for many years. Secondly the deeds of ownership of the properties at Eccles clearly state that owners are responsible for the upkeep of their section of road and at that time if they weren't acting on that obligation it was not so evident - now we see that some do and most don't. The Home Front Roads Association (HFRA) that I am an administrator/secretary of is confined to maintaining parts of Bush Drive, Crowden Road, Abbots Way and Hedgehog Walk and since 2007 the sum of £3000 has been spent on material alone, i.e not including hiring of rollers, the purchase of wheel barrows, spades,rakes, tampers etc. Church Lane was not included in our scheme for several reasons but there were occasions when we supported its residents financially, and with labour, work that was carried out on the road. 
We believe that the situation described above is most certainly an example where the Local Authority should take action and we do not accept your reasoning for not doing so because — and I quote from the letter referred to in para four ... 'Due to the understandable concern that initiating such action causes... etc' our response to that is it is of no concern to us. Why should it be? We are abiding by the obligation as stated in our deeds, and I quote from those deeds: ' the right to pass and repass over and along the carriageways on the Eccles Estate and together also with the right to draw water from the well on the said Estate but subject to the right of the other persons to pass and repass over that part of the carriageway coloured brown on the said  plan on paying a proportionate part of keeping the same in repair.. etc ' What a convenient cop-out between the Local Authority of the time and Mr Bush — were they suggesting that each and every property owner plant a toll gate on his/her half of the road? For the present day Authority to imply that because remedial action to a similar situation has not been taken for approx twenty five years why should it do so now is another cop-out — history repeating itself — an unacceptable and certainly not valid excuse. The 'understandable concern' that should be targetted is that of the road users. 
We request that you accept your obligation in this matter and take the necessary action to relieve the situation, we are aware that you have various options open to you.