WITH reference to B Glover’s letter (The Press, July 23) regarding the path over the dyke at the entrance to Naburn village. I wholeheartedly agree with his comments, but may I put in a good word for Naburn Parish Council of which my husband is a long-standing member?

This is an ongoing battle of about 11 years’ duration between City of York Council and Naburn Parish Council.

A couple of years ago the footpath from the Old Station to Howden Lane corner was widened and this would have been the ideal time to go a bit further and widen the last short length of path into the village.

However, City of York Council informed the parish council there was no more money in the pot to do this.

Wheldrake Ward Committee allocated about £7,500 towards the cost of widening the path, but this was withdrawn along with grants from other sources due to the work not being carried out in time.

The failure to get things done is not in any way due to the apathy of the Naburn Parish Council, but to City of York Council’s seeming reluctance to bring this matter to a safety-minded and satisfactory conclusion.

Mrs J Gray, Main Street, Naburn, York.

 

• I WRITE in response to B Glover’s letter of July 28 about road safety in Naburn.

The road in question is in fact maintained by the city council rather than our parish council. But we have consistently highlighted the dangers of the Howden Bridge footpath to them for more than ten years, without any positive response on their part.

In 2010 we contributed to a piece in The Press in order to draw attention to the problem. We made particular reference to the potential difficulties faced by schoolchildren and anyone pushing buggies or wheelchairs, because the path is too narrow to safely accommodate them.

The issue is made worse by motorists who fail to observe the speed limit or slow down for pedestrians.

Our local councillor continues to try to press the matter with the council. The ideal solution would be to build a separate footbridge – we succeeded in getting some funding towards this, but it was later withdrawn by the city council.

Perhaps your correspondent would like to support our village by writing instead to City of York Council to remind them of this serious safety issue.

Kitty Lamb, Naburn Parish Council.