URGENT calls have been made for the county council to repair a ‘treacherous’ Okehampton footpath after a woman had to be taken away by ambulance with a suspected broken leg.

The accident happened on Monday afternoon last week, November 23, on a stretch of the Fatherford Woods bridleway leading to Okehampton Railway Station.

Octogenarian George Brazier also fell on the stretch at the Fatherford Woods end of the bridleway several weeks ago, injuring his knee and his shoulder. He said the accident was only the latest in a series of incidents reported along the path.

The Okehampton resident walks the route with his two dogs every day and says the path has been in an uneven, dangerous state since the top surface were washed away in floods in July last year.

It has been made even more treacherous because cracks and a gully caused by water damage along the edge of the path are now covered by slippery rotting leaves.

‘About three weeks ago I walked up there with my dogs and I went head over heels and did my knee and my shoulder in,’ he said. ‘I still haven’t got my shoulder sorted out.

‘I phoned Okehampton Hamlets Parish Council about it and they told me they were very surprised to hear this, as they were under the impression that it had been done.

The bridleway, which was created as a level surface to allow families with pushchairs to navigate the popular route into the town, was now too dangerous for families to use, he said.

‘It is ridiculous,’ he said. ‘I saw two people with pushchairs who have had to lift them over the stones which stick out of the path.

‘This is the second time the path has washed away. The first time they got the digger out and put back the sub-base which had washed into the field. But since the path flooded again last year, they have done nothing. They have just left it.

‘People with wheelchairs and buggies used to go right round the loop, into Okehampton and back out to Fatherford Woods. They can’t do that anymore.’

He said that he was ‘angry’ that nothing had been done about the path, which is a county council responsibility.

‘I walk there very carefully and I watch every step. I feel that either they should get the path done or they should shut it off.’

Thelma Reddington lives on the opposite side of the river from the controversial stretch of footpath. She suggested that the path should have been covered in concrete when the path was originally made as a level walk.

‘That path was made for the people of Okehampton to enjoy, but they are not going to be enjoying it much if they keep falling over on it,’ she said. ‘There have been a number of accidents here, including people twisting their ankles. Something needs to be done about it.’

Jane Gillard, clerk of Okehampton Hamlets Parish Council, said she was well aware of the state of the path.

‘We have been in touch with the footpath people and try to get some action,’ she said.

‘The response I’ve got from them is that the funding is the problem. Yes they want to do it, but the money isn’t there at the moment.’

A spokesman for Devon County Council, though, said that residents would see the path restored by the spring.

‘Work is planned to be carried out to the surface this financial year,’ he said. ‘We have permission from the landowner to access the land to carry out improvements and we are currently liaising with contractors over when this can be carried out.’