Supermarket and Hampshire County Council point fingers at each other over ‘dangerous’ footpath near Pennington’s Tesco Express in The Square

A “DANGEROUS” footpath is at the centre of a row between a supermarket giant and the county council over whose responsibility it is to fix.

Neither Tesco nor Hampshire County Council are accepting responsibility for the broken pavement near Pennington’s Tesco Express in The Square, with each saying it’s up to the other to mend.

Lymington mayor Cllr Jack Davies said he has tried reaching out to both parties multiple times this year about the state of the wall and footpath.

The county council claims the pavement belongs to a private landowner who is responsible for its upkeep, while Tesco says the land is public and is the responsibility of the council to fix.

“It’s mind-boggling,” Cllr Davies told the A&T. “I’m getting pushed from pillar to post trying to sort out something that should be a simple fix.

“Meanwhile it’s residents who lose out, left navigating a pavement that is dangerous. It’s unacceptable.

“Hampshire Highways should repair the pavement and then bill the landowner. It’s been going on for far too long already.”

Cllr Davies said he and local residents were “deeply concerned and frustrated” by the state of Pennington Square, adding it had been allowed to “grow into a state of disrepair and neglect” by Tesco and HCC.

The two main issues were a large area of broken paving slabs and boarded up windows adjacent to the South Street side of the store, he said.

“We’ve tried over many months to get these issues resolved by communicating directly with Tesco and the county council. However, this has failed to resolve the issue and residents now feel ignored and let down.”

A county council spokesperson told the A&T: “This area of paving is owned by a private landowner who is therefore responsible for its upkeep and repairs.

“We are aware of local concerns and have written to the landowner requesting that the paving is fixed to an appropriate standard.”

In response, a Tesco spokesperson said the broken paving slabs are outside of Tesco’s boundary but the store has reported them to the council.

They added: “We have already made improvements to the outside of our South Street Express and have further works planned for next year.

“We appreciate the community’s feedback, and are always looking to provide the best shopping experience for our customers.”

Cllr Davies told the A&T he first asked a county councillor to “chase highways” about the state of the pavement in January.

In March, Cllr Davies met with store manager Finn Heasman to discuss the issue and was told a “job was supposedly being raised” to fix the slabs.

However, by April, both Tesco and the county council had got back to Cllr Davies to say the pavement was not their responsibility.

Cllr Davies said he chased the council’s highways department in May and was informed the landowner would be told about the need for repairs.

In August a Tesco maintenance team came to put new boards up at one of the windows after the previous ones were blown off.

By October all of the rotten window boards had been replaced and painted, but Cllr Davies said the quality of the repairs was “poor” with only a thin coat of paint on the boards and the “crumbling” wall around it untouched.

Cllr Davies flagged the low quality of the workmanship but was informed by Tesco it was “satisfied” with the quality of the repairs.

He said: “The people of Pennington deserve a village centre that is both safe and attractive.

“It’s totally unacceptable that residents’ concerns have been ignored by Tesco and Hampshire highways and that we’ve been passed from pillar to post on the issue of who’s responsible for the large area of broken paving slabs.

“Both parties need to stop passing the buck and come together to agree a coordinated approach between them and the landowner.”