A severely sight impaired Ripon resident has thanked highways workers for their swift action in attending to trip hazards near his home.
Graham Wilkey who lives in the Bondgate area, raised concerns about cracked and uneven pavements that made him wary of walking into the city centre, even with the assistance of Riley, his three-year-old guide dog.
He told the Stray Ferret:
“Riley can ensure that I cross roads safely and avoid obstacles such as signage blocking pavements, but he can’t stop me from falling if I trip on a broken paving stone and that’s why I decided to contact the council.”
Workmen patching the pavement near Mr Wilkey’s home
Following Mr Wilkey’s call, a highways engineer responded quickly to inspect the pavements and identified eight stones in need of removal.
On Thursday, two days before North Yorkshire County Council became the new North Yorkshire Council on April 1, workmen arrived to remove the damaged paving and replace it with tarmac.
Mr Wilkey said:
“I’d like to thank them for sorting out the problem so quickly and making the walk into the city centre safer for me and other sight-impaired people and those with mobility issues.
“There’s a lot of Ripon roads and pavements still in need of repair, but this is an encouraging start.”
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State of roads in Ripon comes under spotlight
Independent Ripon councillors have accused North Yorkshire County Council of getting its road repairs priorities wrong.
They have asked the highway authority to explain the rationale behind resurfacing rural lay-bys instead of repairing city centre roads.
Ripon City Council leader Andrew Williams told the Stray Ferret:
“Along a 16-mile stretch of road between Hawes and Leyburn, lay-bys have been re-surfaced to a very high standard, while many roads in Ripon are in desperate need of major work.
Pictured above is one of the recently re-surfaced lay-bys on the A684 Hawes to Leyburn Road and below is a section of Market Place East in Ripon
Barrie Mason, North Yorkshire County Council’s assistant director for highways and transportation, said:
“The improvement work to lay-bys is funded by the government’s Safer Roads Fund, which has the aim of reducing the number of people killed and seriously injured on the county’s roads.
“The Safer Roads Fund can only be used on certain roads within the county which meet the strict government criteria and is not to be used for routine maintenance.
“We have a comprehensive programme of planned maintenance schemes based on annual surveys of the whole road network that has produced a long-term trend of improving road condition.
“Ripon Market Place is being considered for future funding within our forward programme for 2022/23.
“A number of the areas of most concern are associated with poorly performing utility reinstatements and we are seeking urgent action on these from the companies concerned.”
Cllr Pauline McHardy said:
“We want all roads in the county to be safe and it is my view that the four roads around Market Place and other parts of the city centre are a danger to motorists, cyclists and pedestrians, because of the state they are in.”
Her fellow city and Harrogate district council colleague, Sid Hawke, added:
“We keep asking for proper repairs to be done and while we wait, the road surfaces get worse and worse by the day.”
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For next year, Ripon is planning a major programme of events to celebrate the Queen’s platinum jubilee.
Mayor of Ripon, Cllr Eamon Parkin, said:
“I just hope that the roads in and around the city centre have been fixed by then.”