A BLOCKED pavement in Wellington town centre has been partially cleared after months of complaints by local residents that they have had to walk in the road.

The pavement along the frontage of public toilets in Longforth Road was shut when a car crashed into and partially demolished the building shortly before Christmas.

Brickwork and other rubble was left strewn across the pavement and the town council-owned building had to be shored up with props to avoid the risk of it collapsing.

Heras-style temporary fencing was erected around the frontage and the entire pavement was closed to pedestrians for safety reasons.

Residents and some councillors have been calling on the council to move the rubble and allow people to use the pavement again while an ongoing insurance claim was pursued against the car driver.

The town council had been looking at redevelopment plans for the toilet block and had allocated £145,000 budget for the project.

It has since appointed a specialist contractor to advise on the options for redesigning and rebuilding the toilets.

Town Cllr Zoe Barr told the Wellington Weekly: “I think we have been a bit slow as a council in dealing with this matter, so I am pleased that we have now finally listened to the public and managed to clear up enough to let people walk along the pavement again without having to step into the road in front of traffic.

“I have heard any number of people complaining about this since the accident happened at Christmas.

“I absolutely understand that we have had to think about people’s safety and the last thing we would want is for part of the building to fall on anybody and injure them, or worse.

“But we were also putting people in danger by making them walk in a busy road where there is continual traffic, so we really had to get the right balance here, which I think we have now.”