Pavement damage '˜has left town centre dilapidated'

Following a series of works by utility companies, large swathes of High Street’s pavements have been patched over.

Paving stones in other areas of the town centre have also fallen into disrepair and have been blamed for a series of accidents. The LBO understands that one elderly woman had to have seven stitches in her mouth after falling outside Lloyds Chemist.

She was left badly bruised and also suffered from whiplash due to the severity of the fall. Uneven paving outside the chemist is said to have caused the incident.

The Leighton Buzzard Society is pushing Central Beds Council improve the state of the pavements and has urged its members to submit complaints to the authority.

It is also collecting details of people who have had falls in the town as a result of the uneven pavements.

In a statement it said: “Work which has been carried out by utility companies and tree root damage has not been reinstated to the standard of paving expected and so making our town centre looking dilapidated. This is not acceptable in the eyes of the society and we will continue to campaign for improvements in the town and surrounding villages as we have done so for the past 50 years.”

Central Beds Council has said the poor appearance of pavements is only temporary.

A spokesperson said: “We can confirm that the tarmac patches are to make the area safe in advance of a programmed scheme to upgrade street lighting, which will include replacing the pavement in keeping with the appearance of the town centre.”