weak control

I don't think the cone by itself really does much. Not that anyone relevant would really be wanting to use this bit of footway, but unless the cone just happened to be lying on the grass left over from the various trambles it must have been specially fished-out to stick on top of the pile. It reminds me of the wee rings of chalk which occasionally crop up around dogturds to help warn people of their presence, which would be a good use of cones of this size, seeing as they're generally ineffective at preventing loading or parking or whatever else they're bunged on the street for despite their inability to resist being driven into or swiftly kicked out of the way.