Disabled widower calls for better cemetery access

UP to £5,000 is set to be spent on improving access to a New Milton cemetery after a disabled resident complained he struggled negotiating a busy main road to visit his wife’s grave.

A dropped crossing point and a widened pavement were suggested following inter-council talks on how to address the concerns raised by the mobility scooter-using widower about his regular trips to the Milford Road cemetery from his home near the Tesco store in Caird Avenue.

As reported in the A&T, the town council’s amenities committee heard the man must cross the roundabout between the A337 Lymington Road and the B3058 Milford Road.

He has to use a very narrow footpath before crossing over to reach the cemetery’s entrance as there is no footpath on its side of the road, which is also a bus route.

Cllr Valya Schooling, who first raised the issue after being contacted by the man, told the committee she had met with Hampshire County Council team leader for traffic and safety, Mandy Ware.

In addition to committee chairman Cllr Geoffrey Blunden, town clerk Graham Flexman and Cllr Christine Ward, she was joined in the talks by HCC vice-chairman Cllr Mel Kendal.

Several possible measures to improve access were discussed, Cllr Schooling said, including widening the entrance or moving the nearby bus stop.

But she explained: “We were left with the problem of how narrow the actual footpath is for wheelchair users and how they would manage to get across the road to the cemetery.

“The decision was that they would go away and look into it. It was felt that it would have to be done by taking the grass away to widen the path.”

Summarising the outcome of the meeting regarding the actual entrance to the cemetery, Cllr Blunden said providing a dropped crossing by the bus stop was the “only viable option”.

He suggested that in addition to the dropped kerbing and tactile paving, the crossing point could be marked out by a bollard similar to those on crossing points in Caird Avenue.

With the project estimated to cost around £5,000, Cllr Blunden said HCC had made it clear that it would be up to the town council to foot the bill.

Members agreed with the chairman’s proposal to recommend to full council that up to £5,000 be taken from its community infrastructure levy funds for the work.

“Let’s hope we can move that along quickly, but we are reliant on Hampshire County Council for working out the design,” Cllr Blunden added.