RESIDENTS were told last night their fences will be fixed – more than a year after they were struck and damaged by a council truck.
The announcement came from Kirklees Council after nurse Louise Murfin, from Sheepridge, told them to “pull their finger out” after months of wrangling over the damage.
Louise, 44, said: “At the beginning of 2010 a council dustbin lorry skidded on black ice and destroyed cars and fencing all down the road.
“The council claimed each individual householder had to claim on their own home insurance. This is ridiculous as the fencing is damaged across many boundary lines making this unviable.
“It’s a continuous fence and there’s about a dozen parts that have been damaged.
“It is about time the council pulled their finger out and fixed the fencing they damaged with their vehicle on a road they did not grit.”
A spokesman for Kirklees Council said it wasn’t their responsibility to fix the fence and that individual householders should claim on their own house insurance.
But speaking to the Examiner last night, Andi Briggs, from Deighton and Brackenhall Initiative, said they would mend them as a “good will gesture.”
Mr Briggs said: “It’s a bit of an ongoing saga.
“My understanding was that it wasn’t only the bin wagon but other cars sliding on the ice that had caused the damage – everybody seems to think it was just the bin wagon.
“Myself and councillor Kath Harris have been trying to pursue this case and we’ve only just managed to get anywhere with it.”
Money set aside for fencing on nearby Oxley Road – a plan rejected by the residents there – will go towards mending the metal fence.
Louise, who works for Lifeline drugs service, was delighted with the news.
She said: “I think it’s more than about time because it’s taken over a year to get to this point.
“And it has taken some pretty strong words from me at the residents association meetings for this to happen.”
