Great Barton pensioners want Suffolk County Council to take control of 'dangerous' Mill Road footpath

A group of Great Barton pensioners are calling on Suffolk County Council to maintain a ‘dangerous’ village path after they have had to clear it themselves for a second time.

Residents have been complaining to the council since 2016 about a section of pavement in Mill Road that continues to become overgrown and say they have had to take matters into their own hands as they have mostly been ignored.

Elaine Read, who lives in Mill Road, said after numerous reports had been raised her and two others cleared the pathway in 2018 and now a small group has done the job again.

She said: “We clear it all and stack it back away from the path but eventually it all goes back across - it needs a proper job doing by the council.

“Suffolk County Council has let us down for just over five years, this is about road safety and really people of our age should not be having to do this work for them.. not twice.”

In 2018, when it was cleared the residents were thanked by the parish council during one of their meetings. In the notes it said that the overhanging vegetation had nearly caused a collision between a car and a child.

Elaine said: “It has not just been one incident there, but several.

“A couple of weeks ago a resident was clipped by a car wing mirror whilst walking her dog. The pavement had become so narrow we had to walk close to the edge bordering the highway.”

In December last year, the trees were finally removed by a West Suffolk Council tree officer, but this lead to another issue as the ditch next to the path had some of the felled trees left in it and now Elaine and the other residents just want the job fully taken on board and completed.

She said: “We want a maintenance programme here and we do not want to have something where you have to basically walk on the road before the council will do anything - which was the reactive criteria for footpaths from Suffolk Highways stated in an email forwarded to me.

“We also want the ditch cleared as well - We pay this in our precept, in our rates for Suffolk County Council to do the work and they are not doing it.”

Suffolk Highways was approached for comment.