Council letter arrives after 13-year wait
Highways chiefs took 13 years to write to a resident about this footpath.
Imagine waiting 13 years for your council to respond to requests for a new footpath to be built in your town.
That’s the experience Henry Osborne had when he wrote to county highways chiefs in September 1999 to suggest that a new footpath was needed in Stukeley Hall Drive, Holbeach, for residents who use it as a short cut into the town centre.
Unfortunately, red-faced Lincolnshire County Council officials have had to apologise to family and friends of Mr Osborne (86) who died about six years ago.
His former neighbour, Jack Rock (72) of Langwith Gardens, Holbeach, said: “My wife and I moved here 12 years ago and we used the footpath quite regularly to go into the town centre.
“Mr Osborne filled in a form and sent it off to the council in 1999, so we think it’s quite humorous that he’s received a reply now.
“My new neighbour gave me the letter for a bit of a laugh, thinking that I might want it.
“It seems very, very strange to me that Mr Osborne should have a letter about the footpath now when he brought it to their attention 13 years ago.”
Mr Rock brought the letter into the Spalding Guardian after our story last week about Holbeach parish councillor Graham Rudkin who has joined the call for a footpath to be built in Stukeley Hall Drive.
Mr Rudkin said: “It’s probably one of the most used footpaths in Holbeach but when it rains, it’s absolutely disgusting and my personal view is that it’s about time something was done about it.”
Holbeach county councillor Nick Worth said: “We’ve managed to move the footpath request up to number four on the council’s list but it still has to go through the planning process, so it’ll be a bonus to get it done.”
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Weather for Spalding
Sunday 19 May 2013
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