Residents wait years for footpath out of estate

Parents like Kirsty Waters said children cannot walk safely to school from their homes

Residents on a housing estate say children are unable to walk to school safely because a footpath has not been built by the developer.

People have been living in homes on Bellway's The Vale development in Bottesford, Leicestershire, since 2022.

But to walk to the village, residents say they have to use Grantham Road, which does not have any pavement on The Vale's side of the street and only a partial pathway on the other side.

Bellway said it was "committed" to installing the 450m path and was in discussions with both Leicestershire and Melton councils to overcome "significant design constraints", which it said had delayed the work.

One condition of outline planning permission for the 60-home estate in 2020 was building a new pathway from the site to Easthorpe View, but five years on, this has yet to be installed.

The Vale residents have no pavement to use along Grantham Road

The Vale resident Kirsty Waters, 42, moved in August 2022.

The mother-of-two said: "There is no safe passage for the children to walk on this side of the road into the village. I've caught my son walking on the grass into the village sometimes because he's struggling to cross.

"We moved here from a hamlet specifically so that our children could have independence, so that they could walk to school, go off to the shops on their own if they wanted to, and in the future catch the train, the bus.

"My concern is that as time goes on, it becomes less and less likely to get resolved."

The situation is "frustrating" feels parent Barbara Ratcliffe

Another parent, mother-of-three Barbara Ratcliffe, 48, said residents felt frustrated, adding: "The traffic very often is well in excess of 40mph. There's no street lighting. There's no footpath.

"It's just not a very safe route for us walking in and out of the village, and it's disappointing that it's taken so long and that there's still no prospect of this pavement being put in place."

Planning authority Melton Borough Council said Bellway had submitted a proposal detailing its plan to install "the required footpath link", and it would be considering it in consultation with highways authority Leicestershire County Council.

Alan Burrell, a 68-year-old who moved to the estate from Cambridgeshire in November 2022, said: "My view is they don't want the expense of moving the lamp-posts.

"From a schoolchildren point of view in particular, we think it's quite dangerous. Some people have been in over two years with children, and there's no safe road to school, let alone it's dangerous for everybody to cross that road anyway."

Villager Alan Burrell said there is no full pavement all the way into Bottesford on either side of the road

A spokesperson for Leicestershire County Council said it had been involved "over a number of years" supporting the process.

A spokesperson from Bellway said it "remains committed to delivering all aspects of the development as soon as possible".

It said: "However, progress on the footpath has been delayed due to significant design constraints, including the impact on the hedgeline and the complexities posed by the existing ditch.

"We are actively working to resolve these challenges."