A Stevenage resident has spoken out about the lack of maintenance at a footpath in the town, leaving it unusable.
David Dee, who lives the Manor ward of town, first alerted Herts County Council of the state of footpath 030, which stretches between Haycroft Road and Whitesmead Road, via its rights of way officer.
After clarifying the location of the dilapidated footpath, Dave told the Comet that he did not hear back from the council, and was left not knowing whether action would be taken to clear the thoroughfare.
Dave regularly walks in the area with his wife, and assumed that he wasn't the only one negative feeling towards the state of the footpath.
"It looks like someone has tried to cut back some of the brambles in the first five yards of Haycroft Road," he said, adding that he is sure the attempt was that of residents rather than the council.
"We then walked to the other end of the footpath, and it's not as brambly, but it's equally overgrown."
According to HCC's website, the county council's rights of way service is responsible for maintaining non-tarmac footpaths, bridleways, restricted byways, byways open to all traffic and non-tarmac unclassified county roads.
Hertfordshire Highways maintain the county's cycleways, tarmac footpaths, pavements and tarmac unclassified county roads.
"That's what I'm really bugged about," Dave continued.
"I wrote to the bloke in February, and I sent him some photographs and their own map, and heard nothing back."
He added: "It's either a footpath or it's not, it's as simple as that. It's a right of way, or it's not. If it's not a right of way, take the sign post down. It's quite simple."
After being "absolutely blanked" by the council, Dave added that his frustration mounted as many have been encouraged to go outside and walk throughout the pandemic.
"They're encouraging people more and more to leave the car at home, to walk and cycle, but then you come to a footpath, and it's blocked!
"They now may well say that because of the pandemic, they've had to furlough staff and whatever else, but it's two days work for a team of two or three blokes. They're outside, it's easy to distance."
Dubbing the lack of correspondence and action from HCC "complete ignorance", Dave continued to say that the state of footpath 030 is "a simple lack of maintenance."
He added: "It's the responsibility of the county. Something like 70 per cent of our council tax goes to Herts County Council. Well, do something for it!"
A Hertfordshire County Council spokesperson said: “We are aware of the overgrown state of this footpath following Mr Dee’s report. It has since been inspected and allocated for clearance by a contractor. We’d like to apologise for not informing residents of these plans.
"Stevenage footpath 30 provides a route from Whitesmead Road to Haycroft Road, and in the meantime an alternative route is available using the pavements on these roads and Lawrence Avenue.
"As there is an alternative route available, we have chosen to schedule the planned clearance work for early September, which is after the bird nesting season has passed, to avoid causing significant disturbance to wildlife.”
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