MEMBERS of Monmouth Town Council are supporting plans for a proper pedestrian link through the hedge bordering Westfield Road and Lancaster Way, Osbaston.
Cllr Mrs Eileen Goodrich said a site meeting had been held with Monmouthshire County Council's Area Manager Lee Robson, Ian Smith of the Countryside Service, Town Councillors and County Councillors Alan Wintle and Dick Cass to look at the gap used as an unofficial path.
The gap is in continual use by residents and near neighbours visiting family and friends, councillors were told. It was used as the safer route for children, while adults often struggled through with pushchairs and baby buggies rather than take a half mile detour. Residents had fallen on a number of occasions on the steeply sloped County Council owned verge bank.
There was now a chance to create a public footpath through the Countryside and Legal sections. It could provide for the needs of all pedestrians with a ramp running from Westfield Road to the hedge and then parallel to Lancaster Way within the existing verge.
The use of gabion cages and wooden safety rails, often used by the Countryside Section on bridges, would provide a low cost solution.
The gabions could be part covered with soil and planted with broom and cotoneaster shrubs, avoiding the use of unsightly concrete and metal structures.
A level platform speed hump crossing Lancaster Way from the ramp end could incorporate tactile paving at each kerb. Traffic calming could be provided at the point that pedestrians need to cross Lancaster Way to reach the footway.
Construction work would also give the opportunity to provide an open surface water interceptor channel on the Westfield Road side of the ramp to take surface water to the existing road drains in Lancaster Way.
The construction of a ramp, safety rail and planting would cost £2,000, with another £550 for the speed hump. The surface water channel and link drain may cost around £1,000 and civil engineers would probably cost another £500.
Mrs Goodrich said the site meeting had been very good and she asked for the Town Council's support for the scheme to go to the County Council.