Councillors call for more action on improving Coventry’s pavements
Coventry councillors say more needs to be done to improve the city’s pavements, with complaints rising about uneven and unsafe surfaces
Coventry councillors say more needs to be done to improve the city’s pavements, with complaints rising about uneven and unsafe surfaces.
The call comes even after the council was awarded a national ‘green’ rating for its work on potholes.
At a recent full council meeting, Cllr Patricia Hetherton, cabinet member for city services, highlighted the council’s investment in roads and pavements.
She said: “Our investment alongside our innovative approaches have seen our defect numbers drop dramatically especially over the past 12 months after we allocated an extra £1m to fix problems, clean gullies and refresh road makings. We know this is an ongoing situation but we will never rest on our laurels.”
She added that resurfacing work had been carried out on the ring road and A45 – two of Coventry’s busiest roads – as well as a number of others making up a total of 14 miles. A further 8.5 miles of road had had a preventative treatment and more than ten miles of pavements had been treated.
But it was the state of the pavements that prompted a response from Cllr Esther Reeves. She said: “As councillors, we are always aware of potholes – it is part of our job – but also unstable pavements.
“We are getting quite a lot of complaints about pavements, about people struggling to walk along them and struggling to use wheelchairs and buggies. It is really critical that we keep an eye on this and assess them with an eye of those with mobility problems. Most assessors are generally able bodied.”
That call was taken up by Cllr Marcus Lapsa who added: “In the last week or so I have had reports of raised pavements in Bablake ward and sent them over to officers. There have been three falls and that should be a priority especially where there might be older people. Even a couple of inches on a pavement that is not even can cause problems.
“We need to work more efficiency. If we go back 18 months in Gaza Close, the pavement on one side was done perfectly and the other wasn’t. ”
Cllr Hetherton responded: “Of course we are looking at our pavements in the future, we would love to do that. When I come across pavements that aren’t good, I suffer accordingly. Whether you are in a wheelchair or with a pushchair you actually suffer the consequences. There isn’t the money for that, there hasn’t been the money for it, but going forward we will try and get that balance.”