RESIDENTS have voiced their concern over the state of Romsey pavements which has caused injuries for years.

A number of residents have stories about friends and family tripping on the pavement in Romsey town centre, with trips happening almost every week.

One person who has been affected by the state of the pavements is Caroline Shobbrook, she said her now 85-year-old mother fell and broke her wrist on the Church Street and Market Place junction.

She said she struggled to report the incident.

Romsey Town Centre Manager, Mark Edgerley, said: "It is unfortunate that after many years of inadequate maintenance some areas of paving have degraded to a state that causes regular accidents with residents and visitors tripping, often with quite serious injury.

"Some areas of paving were marked for repair by Hampshire County Council for upwards of 12 months, the quality of some repairs that have been completed is very poor with little more than a shovel of sand thrown under a wobbly paving slab, this washes out the next time we have heavy rain, a total waste of money."

Ian Whatmore, a resident of Romsey, posted a photo of the pavement on Facebook which caused an array of comments.

He said: "I was staggered by the response and interest in the whole subject of Romsey pavements.

"It shows the concern felt by those living and working in the town.

"The whole state of the town pavements is one of neglect. It seems that all the work done over the past five or so years was done in a shoddy fashion and not properly maintained or replaced to an acceptable standard following utility work.

"Even road brick crossing places, for example between The Phoenix and Hays Travel, is broken and unsafe."

Caroline Nokes, MP for Romsey and Southampton North said: "Although there has been fantastic investment in the town centre there are still real concerns about pavements that have not yet been improved.

"Obviously they fall under the remit of the local Council, and I regularly raise with them specific concerns raised by constituents.

"Safe and attractive pavements are part of making the town a good place for visitors, shoppers and residents and I will raise this again with the Council."

Councillor Rob Humby, Deputy Leader of HCC, said: “We are aware of one or two repairs that need to be done on the foot ways in Romsey.

"However, Hampshire County Council has recently spent more than £3 million on major improvements to footways in Church Street, Bell Street and Market Place.

"Local authorities are facing continuing pressures due to reductions in our funding from Government grants, however safety is our top priority and we will endeavour to get repairs done as quickly as possible.

"In the meantime, I would encourage people to report defects to us so we can get them repaired as quickly as possible. Repairs can be reported via the County Council’s website."