Job well done

ONE of the targets that the county council is aiming for is to "ensure that no more than 22.5% of footpaths require significant repair". If I read the information in the Ely Standard correctly, that means ensuring that only just over three-quarters of footpaths are safe to use. They appear to be well on the way to achieving this in Soham.

Last week some blokes were burying a blue pipe beside the butcher's in the High Street. No problem there, the new flats obviously needed to be connected to something. As they crossed the footpath with the hole they had to remove the slabs that were laid a few years ago. Unfortunately, once the hole had moved along, it was filled in with tarmac and the slabs were discarded. So now we have a slabbed path with a tarmac stripe. Some might say that a tarmac path without tipping and sunken slabs would be an improvement, but that's another story. As the tarmac sinks and settles the edges of the slabs will become excellent objects to trip over but should go a long way towards the 22.5% of footpaths that need repair.

There is a small but pleasant green on the corner of Thorn Close and Julius Martin Lane with a tarmac path crossing it. This path has recently seen a bit of maintenance itself with a fresh wearing surface applied. Unfortunately the roots of the weeds and grass in the path were ignored so now there is a nice black footpath with grass and dandelions poking through it. Give them another week or two and anyone should be able to trip over.