Residents are waiting up to five months and, in an astonishing case, a whole year to have a dropped kerb installed by the council.

Householders are stumping up £900 in full and up-front but are left waiting for months for work to start.

Councillor Tahir Ali, Cabinet Member for Development, Transport and the Economy, admitted there was a problem blaming a breakdown in communications between departments and said they are working to clear the backlog.

There are currently 270 people on the waiting list for a dropped kerb.

The average wait for a straightforward installation where there is no obstacle such as a tree, telegraph pole, or street light in the way, has jumped from two months in April 2014, to three months now.

While the average wait for a dropped kerb, where there is an obstacle, has increased from three months in April 2014 to five months.

Councillor Neil Eustace (Stechford, Yardley North) said: “One resident was waiting almost a year for her pavement crossover. She eventually got it.

“It’s unacceptable, if they take the money off people, they should be doing it faster than that.

“In residential roads the council twiddles its thumbs. Residents who are doing the right thing and paying high costs are appalled at long delays despite paying ‘up front’

Neil Eustace
Neil Eustace

“Any private company sitting on payment for building works this long would find themselves under investigation by Trading Standards.

“I call on the council to sort this out, no one should wait longer than a month after paying for a kerb crossover.

Coun Ali said: “The fundamental cause of the backlog has been a disconnect between applicants sending their payment to accounts payable and the dropped kerb service being made aware of the payment.

“This has now been addressed and the information is readily available to the dropped kerb team.

“The problem has been further compounded by a large increase in the number of applications.

“Temporary staff are being employed to assist in coping with the current backlog.”

The most expensive installation in the last two years is £3,000 where workmen had to move a Virgin Media box.