{"id":68018,"date":"2025-12-08T09:45:29","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T09:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/?p=68018"},"modified":"2025-12-08T09:45:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T09:45:34","slug":"council-confirms-action-plan-to-tackle-pavement-overgrowth-across-the-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/council-confirms-action-plan-to-tackle-pavement-overgrowth-across-the-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Council confirms action plan to tackle pavement overgrowth across the county"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Devon County Councillors have agreed to take steps to address widespread concerns over deteriorating pavements and vegetation overgrowth across Exeter and surrounding communities.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The decision follows a Notice of Motion by Councillor Neil Stevens (Reform, Alphington and Cowick) and subsequent recommendations from Cabinet that have been formally accepted by councillors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Issues have been identified across the county, where weeds and overgrowth have been reported growing through pavements and public footpaths, raising safety concerns for disabled residents, older people and parents with prams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At a meeting of Full Council, our County Councillors voted in favour of the Cabinet\u2019s recommendations, to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Continue rectifying safety defects on pavements caused by vegetation overgrowth<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Advise communities on involvement through a new parish protocol for highways self-delivery, expected to be agreed by Cabinet this month<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Work with the Probation Service to assist with clearance in targeted areas where possible<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Engage with other tiers of local government, including the Devon Association of Local Councils (DALC), town and parish councils, to develop collaborative solutions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div id=\"block_acf-block-69369e39e76d6\" class=\"councillor-quote align-right dcc grid-x\">\r\n\t<blockquote class=\"councillor-quote-blockquote medium-auto small-12 cell\">\r\n                    <div class=\"councillor-quote-title\"><p>But Councillor Stevens, who was unable to attend the Full Council meeting in person, told Members via a written response that the recommendations in front of them were &#8216;watered down&#8217;.<\/p><\/div>\r\n        \t\t<div class=\"councillor-quote-text\"><p><!-- wp:paragraph --><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->\u201cIt looks fine on paper but it won&#8217;t make any real difference to the vegetation overrunning pavements and public spaces across Exeter and Devon,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->\u201cLet&#8217;s be honest, this won&#8217;t fix it and if we don&#8217;t find proper funding\u2026the long-term cost to Devon will be far higher. Residents are already frustrated. They need a real, effective solution, not another token gesture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\t<\/blockquote>\r\n        <div class=\"councillor-quote-aside medium-auto small-12 cell\">\r\n\t<figure class=\"councillor-quote-image grid-x\">\r\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"small-6 cell medium-12\" src=\"https:\/\/democracy.devon.gov.uk\/UserData\/2\/8\/5\/Info00011582\/bigpic.jpg\" alt=\"Councillor Neil Stevens QVRM\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\r\n        <figcaption class=\"councillor-quote-description small-6 cell medium-12\" >\r\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/democracy.devon.gov.uk\/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=11582\" rel=\"noopener\">Councillor Neil Stevens QVRM<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n            <\/figure>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    \r\n    <\/div>\n\n<div id=\"block_acf-block-69369e39e7733\" class=\"councillor-quote align-right dcc grid-x\">\r\n\t<blockquote class=\"councillor-quote-blockquote medium-auto small-12 cell\">\r\n                    <div class=\"councillor-quote-title\"><p>Councillor Julian Brazil, Leader of the council, said:<\/p><\/div>\r\n        \t\t<div class=\"councillor-quote-text\"><p><!-- wp:paragraph --><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->\u201cMany of us share your frustrations with the state of our roadways, but there just is not the funding available to do a complete clearance of our pavements.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->\u201cTo get to something that residents are happy with, we&#8217;re going to have to work with our communities so that we do it together.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph -->\u201cWe may all sympathise with it, (but) I think we have to be realistic that within the financial situations that we find ourselves in, we&#8217;re going to have to work better with our community groups&#8230;and work with them to do much of this work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\t<\/blockquote>\r\n        <div class=\"councillor-quote-aside medium-auto small-12 cell\">\r\n\t<figure class=\"councillor-quote-image grid-x\">\r\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"small-6 cell medium-12\" src=\"https:\/\/democracy.devon.gov.uk\/UserData\/7\/1\/1\/Info00000117\/bigpic.jpg\" alt=\"Councillor Julian Brazil\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\r\n        <figcaption class=\"councillor-quote-description small-6 cell medium-12\" >\r\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/democracy.devon.gov.uk\/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=117\" rel=\"noopener\">Councillor Julian Brazil, Leader of the Council<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n            <\/figure>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    \r\n    <\/div>\n\n\n<p>Several councillors spoke out in praise of local volunteers and community groups in their divisions that are actively and regularly involved with clearing weeds and vegetation from public paths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Councillor Brazil added, \u201cThere are a lot of community groups and individuals who regularly turn out voluntarily to make a difference in their communities, whether that\u2019s clearing vegetation from paths, or gullies at the side of the road, or litter picking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy thanks goes to every one of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDevon is a great place to live, and so many of our residents community-spirited and motivated to give something back to their community. I think that\u2019s what makes Devon a special place to live.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":68019,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[24,986],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dcc-homepage","category-roads-and-transport"],"acf":[],"featured_image":{"ID":68019,"title":"News Page size (58)","alt":"a weedy pavement, with a glove hand clearing the 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