Letter: Pavements – What a Sorry State of Affairs

Published on: 2 Oct, 2019
Updated on: 2 Oct, 2019

From Wayne Smith

In response to: The Dragon Says: Why Are The Perils of Guildford’s Precarious Pavements Ignored?

Excellent summation of what is wrong, from The Dragon. Sadly it probably applies to any town in the country. Nobody takes responsibility. Guildford Borough Council says: “Not my job – report to Surrey!” Surrey County Council says: “It’s not our fault, we don’t have the budget. Blame central government!” and the government says: “It’s austerity!” except austerity is supposed to be over.

And when somebody does eventually authorise a repair, seemingly, nobody monitors the work done on the council’s behalf by their contractors and we end up with shoddy repairs. What a sorry state of affairs.

How does any of this tie in with the declarations of climate emergency, traffic congestion, the much-vaunted modal-shift, the desire to get us out of our cars and to walk more?

Item 1 on the climate emergency agenda should be to properly maintain pavements and footpaths. That would be a start.