Figures revealed recently have shown that one third of all footways in Surrey are “functionally or structurally impaired” yet, at the Conservative-run county council’s rate of progress, it will take 167 years to repair them all.

The revelation came following a question from Lib Dem county councillor Stephen Cooksey whose written question received an answer admitting that Surrey County Council plans to repair just 10.4 km (or 0.6%) of footways this financial year out of the 4,933 km of footways that it’s responsible for.

A 0.6% repair rate would of cause work out as taking 167 years to repair all the footways in the county (by which time many would obviously need repairing again).

I’m all for making sure that we spend enough on roads and cycle paths but it would be nice if pedestrians were kept in mind by Surrey county too – many footpaths in Guildford are becoming actively dangerous for those who are infirm and near impassable to those in wheelchairs or with pushchairs.