A Newtown man has said one of the town's main roads is becoming dangerous for disabled people.

Tony Owen, who has to travel into the town centre by wheelchair, has said that the path on Llanidloes Road has become dangerously overgrown for someone in his situation.   

“I used to be able bodied but now I see things in a slightly different way,” said Tony. “I used to start having to get in and out of town obviously but I was self-wheeling then.

“I noticed a problem by Lidl and by there. The pavement was so bad and I would get shaken up so bad I had to stop using the push one.

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“The problem is that over the years where they haven’t bothered to clear the pavement the mud that is thrown off by cars builds up and the verge has grown and the path is narrowed.

“With this, the slope of the pavement, it literally starts pushing you towards the road. I have had occasions where it has been wet or a little bit cold where I have come close to coming off. All they need to do is clear the inside of that pavement.”

“It’s worrying you can see something happening there one of these days“It’s worrying you can see something happening there one of these days (Image: Gavin Grosvenor)

Tony had meetings with local councillors and with members of Powys County Council’s around five years ago but work was not carried out.

He added that the path and the pedestrian system is not well suited for disabled people and that a lot of it is due to neglect.

“It’s obvious that it isn’t as wide as it was because there’s GPO points going down the pavement and half of those are covered,” said Tony.

“It’s worrying you can see something happening there one of these days.

“It’s about maintenance of the path into town. I can tell you as a disabled person that I go into town and the next day I am in bed because of the pain it causes.

“In the crossing points by Iceland and the buck pub you literally have to put your wheelchair in the road to see the cars coming – which to me is not a good design.”  

Powys County Council have said they will be looking at the matter as soon as possible.

A spokesperson for Powys County Council said: “We are not aware of any issues along this footway but the area team will investigate next week and carry out a cleaning programme should that be required.”