Town councillors' frustration over lack of action to tackle 'dangerous' footways at Ashley shopping parade
“SOMEONE’S going to have a serious accident.”
This was the warning as New Milton councillors renewed their calls for improvements to a “dangerous” shopping parade in Ashley.
Members of the town council’s amenities committee expressed frustration at Hampshire County Council’s lack of action to address the run-down state of the parade’s footway.
Chair Cllr Geoffrey Blunden told a recent meeting HCC had said it could not provide any funding for landscaping work there.
This left the town council only able to make some cosmetic improvements to the street scene by installing hanging baskets and flower troughs.
At a loss as to how the parade could be improved, Cllr Christine Ward said: “We can’t carry on leaving it to disintegrate day in, day out. Someone’s going to have a serious accident one day.”
Recounting how many ideas had been suggested to HCC for making the footway safer, Cllr Steve Clarke was bewildered to find it was a low county priority.
“If we’re near the bottom of the priority list, how bad must some other pavements in Hampshire be?” he asked.
Cllr Madeleine Craze highlighted the parade buildings’ individual landowners’ duty of care to ensure the footways outside were safe.
Responding to this point, Cllr Blunden said the town council could continue pressuring HCC to serve notice for improvements to be made.
Cllr Valya Schooling, who originally called for the parade’s regeneration, branded the lack of action “an absolute disgrace”.
“It’s a dangerous parade in front of the shops – it’s positively dangerous!” she said.
“I don’t know why we can’t get anything done. This town is getting bigger by the minute. Don’t we now have any power?”
Cllr Clarke suggested the town council could commission an independent survey, which could force HCC to take action if it concludes the pavements are dangerous.
But Cllr Blunden argued this would not work as HCC would rightly point out it does not own the land.
“The only way they can get involved is if, through the Highways Act, they can serve a notice,” he said.
Stressing the matter should continue to be pursued, Cllr Blunden concluded the town council should seek legal advice.