HIGHWAYS bosses say this crumbling kerbstone does not meet their immediate repair criteria.

Dave Harris, Essex County Councillor for Maypole and Colchester councillor for Berechurch, says he has lodged a number of complaints with Essex Highways about pavements in the town which he claims are hazardous.

Despite his persistence, Mr Harris says he is yet to see any action taken because highways bosses do not believe areas, such as Buxton Avenue (pictured), do not meet the repair criteria.

Council policy states only paths considered a serious risk are fixed immediately while all other defects are put on a waiting list until money becomes available to repair them.

Risk assessments are carried out regularly and anything over a 40mm wide open joint is tackled immediately.

But Mr Harris is concerned council policy may be neglecting paths which need fixing just as urgently, even if they do not meet the criteria’s requirement of being 40mm wide.

The Labour councillor said: “I think the priority setting is wrong, the criteria needs reviewing.

“There are disabled people and parents with pushchairs stepping into roads to avoid defected paths.

“I have raised the problem with Buxton Avenue four or five times in the last 12 to 15 months and watched it get steadily worse.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg really.

“I am concerned for residents who use these paths.

“I think they need to be a higher priority. Essex County Council should be listening to local representatives and associations to find out where the serious problems are.

“We need some sort of dialogue because they are not listening at the moment.

“We must mitigate against incidents like this and ensure the safety of residents as well as providing them with value for money.”

One of Mr Harris’ colleagues has backed up his claims and added his support to calls for the county council to alter their policy.

Mr Harris’ colleague, Martyn Warnes (Lab), added: “My main concern has been that the policy has been inconsistently applied.

“The original criteria was drawn up in 2008 but that was watered down in 2013 due to reduced budgets.

“There needs to be greater local member oversight.”

In response to calls for a different approach to broken pathways, Essex Highways insist they carry out regular inspections and are flexible if some faults continue to worsen.

Responding specifically to Mr Harris’s concerns about Buxton Avenue, a spokesmen said: “This road, along with all pavements in Essex, is inspected regularly. Significant faults are logged for repair. Less significant faults are repaired as part of our planned maintenance scheme unless they deteriorate further.”