Bury St Edmunds Council Focuses Funds on Pavement Repairs

Bury St Edmunds wants to fix bad pavements. They have a plan to target smaller pavement problems. The town council has money for this project. It is called Pavements and Public Spaces, or PPS.

The PPS money can’t fix big, urgent issues. Suffolk County Council handles those types of repairs. This scheme addresses problems not meeting county standards. A reporter, Mariam Ghaemi, reviewed the pavement conditions while walking around with a resident named Jasmine Leathers.

Locals complain about the pavements’ poor shape. They said the pavements are “appalling,” and some residents have fallen and gotten hurt. The PPS project started years ago. The town council budgeted £50,000 for 2025/26.

Mayor Diane Hind says the scheme fills a need. It fixes issues the county doesn’t address, issues that still bother residents. The scheme covers all of Bury St Edmunds parish. The mayor hopes people will see improvements.

The scheme cannot fix major hazards needing urgent work. The county council handles those bigger problems and has a 20mm height rule for action. Residents can tell their town councillor about problems. It might stop small hazards from growing worse.

Residents tell their town councillor when they see an issue, and the councillor then fills out a form. Councillors themselves can also report problems. If Suffolk Highways isn’t already fixing it, help arrives. An engineer checks it and estimates repair costs.

They rank problems by urgency, and critical issues get fixed first. This info goes to the county council. Next, the county council does the repair work. The scheme already helped fix Whiting Street and Rembrandt Way.

The mayor wants people to report issues to Suffolk Highways. If Suffolk Highways won’t help, contact your town councillor. You can find your town councillor on the council website. They hope this scheme makes a real difference.