Long-running Plymouth footpath closure branded a 'shambles'

'It’s a sad situation, pathetic really'

Plymouth council chiefs are working with experts to find a solution to a drainage problem which has seen water pour onto a busy city centre road and left a footpath closed for three years. City councillor Steve Ricketts, whose Drake ward contains the road, has called the ongoing situation in Central Park Avenue “a shambles” and “pathetic” and said the closure is causing a danger for pedestrians.

The footpath was shut in 2021 after National Grid cut down trees to work on underground power lines in Central Park. The work disturbed a spring and caused a mini-waterfall onto the road, and led to the footpath becoming off limits with signs and barriers going up.

Work to restore vegetation around the leak was carried out in 2023 but problems persist. The council has just completed a survey and is working with geologists to find a solution.

But Cllr Ricketts, of the Independents group, said the closed footpath was a hazard and claimed a woman fell while trying to negotiate her way around it and had to go to hospital. He called efforts to solve the problem “pathetic”.

Cllr Ricketts said: “It’s been closed for about three years. It’s a shambles. No one can get their heads together to sort it out.”

He added: “It’s really dangerous, people have to walk and run around it. It’s a sad situation, pathetic really. Nobody had been able to sort it out.”

In January 2023, PlymouthLive reported on how one Central Park Avenue resident complained the closure made the area look “untidy”. He said it was inaccessible to disabled people and caused pedestrians to have to cross a busy road on a corner.

A Plymouth City Council spokesman told PlymouthLive: “We are aware of the issue of water running onto Central Park Avenue from the scrubland above it.

The issue has been caused by some emergency works to a power cable by National Grid, that resulted in the disturbance of a natural spring.

“The pavement below the issue is currently closed but in recent weeks we have completed an environmental survey and are now working with geologists to come up with a long-term solution to the issue.”

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