Pavements & Footways

This page has information about pavements and footways in Eastbourne based on some of our most common enquiries.

Footways are inspected at one, three or six month intervals dependending on usage. A reported defect will always be inspected as soon as an officer is available which is usually within one working day.

For the whole of Eastbourne, a reportable defect in slabbed or brick footways is where the 'trip' height is greater than 1 inch. A 'trip' as the name suggests, is the difference in level between adjacent bricks or slabs. This is reduced to 0.75 inches in areas which have a high pedestrian flow such as the town centre.

 

You can report a problem with a pavement online using the East Sussex Fault Reporting service.

Ideally footways would be uniform in construction. However due to costs this is not possible. Our priority is to create a safe surface with no hazards to pedestrians, sometimes at the expense of aesthetic and environmental considerations. This means that repair work is only carried out on directly affected areas and can mean an expanse of blacktop within a bricked or slabbed area.

 

 

It is Highway Authority (East Sussex County Council) policy to use blacktop material as replacements in footways as it costs approximately a quarter of a like-for- like reinstatement and it is more durable than brick or slab footways.

 

 

We normally replace all slabs that are damaged by vehicle over-runs with blacktop as individual slabs are usually replaced like-for-like unless the problem is persistently occurring.  A problem with footway slabs is that they are subject to weathering and loss of colour so it is just about impossible to obtain colour matching slabs.

Any vegetation that overhangs a public highway is the direct responsibility of the owner of the premises from which the vegetation originates. If, during the course of a regular highway inspection, such vegetation is identified a letter is sent to the relevant premises informing them of their statutory duty to remove the vegetation.

 

Only in exceptional circumstances can the Highway Authority cut such vegetation as it is deemed private property. Any person cutting the vegetation without following certain notification procedures could be found guilty of criminal damage.