Home owners have launched a petition to fix a cracked and wonky footpath where children have fallen off bikes and people in wheelchairs have got stuck.

Cambs Times: Footpaths sinking in West End, March. Picture: Steve Williams.Footpaths sinking in West End, March. Picture: Steve Williams. (Image: Archant)

The footpath along West End has become so bad that residents say they have had to go outside to help push people in wheelchairs over a large bump.

Town councillor Andrew Donnelly is backing the petition launched this week by Geoff and Vicky Horry.

Mr Horry said: “We are concerned about the dangerous state of the West End road caused by very frequent bursts from old water pipes and insufficient, amateur, uncompacted and treacherous repairs made to the road surface.

“Small children going along the path on bikes with stabilisers don’t stand a chance, the lean on the path tips them off.

“We dread when it gets icy as it is treacherous out there.

“I would say in the last two years this has got gradually worse. The water pipes leak, they are old and need fully repairing and the pavement made good, but instead the pipes are patched and leaks cause the path to crack.”

Repairs are botched, pipes are not properly repaired and the path is visibly sloping towards the river, he added.

Outside their home they have put in ,metal posts behind their garden fence in a bid to try to prevent further problems.

Further down the road Christopher and Theresa Stone, who live near the section of path where there is the high raised bump, have watched as new decking put in three years ago has dropped to a slope, they have replaced the porch twice and you can see where the land is dropping.

“All along the path have been water leaks, the pavement cracks, it is not fixed properly and gradually over time the problems are getting worse.

“We have been here eight years but watched it get steadily worse in the last two or so,” said Mr Stone who said Anglia Water told residents the problem was because they lived next to a river.

An Anglian Water spokesperson said: “We have inspected this area today. We have previously carried out essential work along this path, along with electricity and telecommunications companies.

“Anglian Water has high standards of work when it comes to resurfacing roads and paths after excavations and the work carried out here met those standards.

“However well used roads and paths which have been resurfaced in patches will eventually require overall maintenance and this is the responsibility of the local authority.”A spokesman for Cambridgeshire County Council said “We will inspect the work which has been carried out recently by Anglian Water and a number of other organisations and see whether anything further needs to be done.”