We have developed a whole with a diameter of around 30cm/1ft at the entrance of our drive.
We have the roadside ditch and our drive crosses it, pretty normal.......are we responsible for all of it, or does part of it come under the local commune?
Its a bit of a worry, I cant see any rebar. Are these things made by laying a pipe in the ditch and then just pouring concrete/cement over until it reaches the level of ones land? Or do they normally form a bridge with rebar?
I'm just going to google it, but this place is often better!
You need to talk to the maire and get his agreement to digging out the line of the ditch across your drive putting a pipe in and then backfilling. He'll probably be able to suggest a firm that does travaux publique who will give you a devis for the job.
All part of French life my friend. Our road gushes water in 'fountains' from potholes. At one time we though it was a mains leak. The water company came out, looked and found nothing in their pipe. Did they refill their holes properly? Did they heck. Then somebody else saw the same but it was our communauté de communes people who came out. They dug other holes that they did not fill in properly. People living here know the road, visitors must fear for their suspension and shock absorbers. Anyway, at some time or other the communauté de communes people must have been around again because there are now red lines painted around the potholes and word was put around we were having resurfacing just before that seems to be contradicted by the markings. Anyway, the red paint is fading now and still no repairs of any kind. We live, we must always remember, in France. (Sighs, sighs again, slaps own head and then finally chuckles!)
I shouln't worry too much Tony concrete pipes ae immensely strong. It's all part of life here in France. Unless you're going to loose a shock absorber entering your property don't sweat it. Lots of my neighbours have potholes probably because they don't want to spend a fortune doing a proper job. Potholes or "nid de poules" en France c'est normale. Just chuck some gravillons in the hole.
Rebar Tony? Normally it's a concrete pipe which conducts the water from one part of the fossé to the other. In general the roadside ditches mark the boundary of your property the margin adjacent to you is the boundary; the fossé itself is the communes when the fossé was "bridged " the maire should have given permission and approved the way it was done. The commune is reponsable for the cleaning or curage of such ditches on minor roads.