RECENTLY, we told you the intriguing story of some little white lines that appeared in a quiet street in the Somerset village of Pilton.
What we didn’t tell you (mainly because we hadn’t confirmed it), was that a complaint had been submitted to Somerset Council over the incident.
If you remember, despite no legal application or notice, an H-line (intended to prevent people parking) had been mysteriously installed in Shop Lane, outside the home of a parish councillor, Tom Hollings.
When villagers noticed, and raised the matter, everyone denied any knowledge whatsoever of how the lines came to be there, or how they were removed.
The lines appeared from nowhere in Shop Lane, Pilton…
Cllr Hollings, Pilton Parish Council, Somerset Council and its Highways team performed a collective shrug of ignorance.
The lines were reported to Somerset Council, who dispatched Highways staff to remove them. However, when they got there, they found the lines had already been covered over.
Meanwhile, someone reported the incident to the Standards department at Somerset Council.
An investigation into the matter was promptly opened – and promptly closed, having concluded everyone had acted properly, which is really good news.
But the decision – which has been seen by your Leveller – makes for interesting reading in itself.
READ MORE: The mysterious story of white lines in the sleepy Somerset village of Pilton…
Somehow, we expected the council to be able to find some answers, finally, on what happened with the H lines in Pilton.
Sadly not, for it seems the probe, which came after a complaint from a member of the public, did exactly what we did – and got exactly the same answers.
In order to find out what happened, the authority’s deputy monitoring officer asked; Cllr Hollings (‘Nothing to do with me’); Pilton Parish Council (‘Nothing to do with us’) and Somerset Council Highways; (‘Nothing to do with us either’).
Then, as it was nothing to do with anyone, the officer concluded there could be no action taken and no conclusions drawn.
There are a few noteworthy lines in the report, however, including the conclusion Pilton Parish Council “appears to have taken no action to find out how the unauthorised white line had been painted, or whether a member of the council was involved – although it is in front of a councillor’s house” and “probably was painted at the same time as the 20mph road markings”.
As we say, the report also concluded, following responses from the parish council clerk and Cllr Hollings, that is was indeed nothing to do with them.
It said how “it is clear from those responses that neither the parish council or Cllr Hollings had anything to do with the painting of the white H markings that appeared on Shop Lane”.
So, exactly as we found last month, the Somerset Council’s investigation revealed it has no idea who requested the lines, who painted them, or who removed them. Oh, and it also has no idea how much this cost, or who paid for it.
However, rest assured, it was happy to conclude – despite no one knowing anything, remember – that “no public funds were spent either putting them down or in their removal”.
How the white lines in Pilton look now, post-cover up…
Call me pedantic, but if we don’t know how they got there, and who put them there, how can we be sure no public money was spent?
Also, if a crew was sent to clean them up – only to find it had already been done – their time is worth something, no? Apparently not.
We should also add that after the publication of our previous story, a little more information did come back from Somerset Council’s Highways department.
It said: “Neither Somerset Council or its contractor painted the lines. We don’t know who requested them, how the location was selected or any costs.
“Apologies, but we can’t tell you what we don’t know.”
So there we are. It’s nothing to do with them either.
Perhaps we will never know. This could be the end of the line…
I know actually what happened as I witnessed it.
I also spoke to one of the Council operatives before they painted the white line and they told me who requested it.