Before Heritage day I had to do risk assessments on activities we were planning. There are risks you can create yourself like a gazebo on a windy day that is not weighted down, and there are risks that are there already that you can’t do much about except warn people.
Thames Street is very picturesque.
but over on the side by the river, where people have no real reason to go apart from to admire the view, or see the new Heritage information board, there is the worst pavement in Abingdon.
You have been warned.
In fact I stood on it during the heritage walk on Sunday to prevent others tripping on it. However, have you reported it to the county council? On this subject, in north Manchester, which I visit regularly, where there are roots of large trees causing the pavement to ‘swell’, they just put load of pitch/tarmac over them and one just has to ‘climb’ up over it. I guess eventually they will have to cut the trees down when the ‘climb’ becomes too much. Perhaps next time I visit I will take a photo. I mention this because there are examples like this in Abingdon and I have not seen the same practice employed.
There is something similar on the Stert footpath between Harcourt Way and Fairfield Place. This is regularly used by walkers and cyclists and the bump/hole is easy to miss in poor light. I fear that sometime someone could quite well have a serious accident there. The County Council has been contacted in the past, but so far to no avail.
You can report it here: http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/wps/portal/publicsite/reportproblem.
Seems to me that this is yet another example of a matter which should be handled by the Town Council, rather than the Oxfordshire County Council. I find it hard to imagine that the condition of the pavements in Abingdon-on-Thames rates much attention from the County Council or its minions. Give the town the money, and let the town handle its own affairs!
On the other hand, you could sue the county when you have an accident in one of their unacceptably maintained highways.
Superb, what a website it is! This web site provides valuable information to us, keep it up.