‘Obstacle course’ blasted

ORMSKIRK’S pedestrianised areas are “an obstacle course” because of the backlog of repairs needed to cobbles and paving, says Our West Lancashire.

Jane Thompson, the group’s Scott Ward spokesperson said the group had received many comments about the poor state of paving in the town centre and reports of people stumbling and falling.

Ms Thompson said “A fall for a frail, elderly person can be life-threatening.

“It is simply not good enough that paving repairs are taking so long for the county council to deal with.

“We even raised the matter with the borough council chief executive in a meeting in September, for her to raise with senior managers at the county council, yet the situation has worsened further since then.”

Ms Thompson highlighted the loose cobbles outside Poundstretcher on Church Street as one example.

She said, “The cobbles are so loose they can be lifted out by hand.

“There are deep gaps between them and some of them are protruding.

“Poundstretcher’s manager raised it with one of my colleagues only this week, but there are also other areas of badly damaged paving in Aughton Street and Burscough Street.”

Ms Thompson added that she had written to the county council about the problem requesting action.