Closed
Footpath from The end of Neotsbury Rd to Saunders Piece Ampthill
Sent to Central Bedfordshire Council less than a minute later. FixMyStreet ref: 6951953.
I am compelled to email you regarding the condition of the above footpath for which I believe you are responsible. It is an absolute disgrace This is a well used footpath for older folk ( from Wingfield Court ) and also as a route to the nearby Russell Lower School, as well as residents of The Coppins and Willow Way, Ampthill The path is tarmac, and should be approx 1 metre to 1.5 metres wide ( enough for a push chair or wheel chair ) However the path is overgrown on both sides and very muddy especially at the Saunders Piece end In places the path is only about 1 foot of tarmac wide due to the encroachment of mud and mire, two people could not pass each other without going into the muddy sides. This issue has got worse over the last month or so, Could you please get a team out to redefine the path edges and clear way all the mud and muck.
The area at the bottom of Saunders Piece is especially bad and also needs a good clean up.
As it is at the moment, I am ashamed to walk down there with visitors as it is such a mess and shows Central Beds Council in such a very poor light.
I
Updates
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Hi there. Thank you for your comments. Unfortunately we have no budget left for public rights of way work this financial year. The paths are on our annual grass cutting contract and this year we had the budget for 2 cuts which were carried out in the summer. we will take a look and see if there is any work which could be carried out by volunteers such as those locally in Ampthill who help us maintain the path network or the Bedfordshire Ramblers Association group. Surfacing work for public rights of way is dependant on capital funding and at the moment, unfortunately there are more projects than there is available budget for. The Council is currently consulting on it's draft budget - https://www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/ info/ 335/ budget_2025-2026 We will speak with our Environmental Services colleagues and Ampthill Town Council and see if there is a community project which could perhaps be externally funded for this area. Many thanks for your interest in this matter.
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We are trying to get some volunteers together tomorrow morning to try and do a bit of vegetation cutting back and shovelling the mud off the tarmac.
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