A Newport pavement has become so badly overgrown that children, parents with prams and wheelchair users are being pushed out onto a 50mph road just to get past, a local councillor has warned.
The situation has been described as routine rather than a one-off, with residents regularly having no choice but to step into live traffic because the verges alongside the path have been left to grow completely out of control.
Newport councillor raised the alarm after concerns from local residents reached breaking point. The overgrowth has reportedly got so severe that the pavement is effectively blocked, leaving vulnerable people with nowhere safe to go.
For wheelchair users, there is simply no option to squeeze through or duck under branches. For parents pushing prams, the same applies. And for children walking to school or playing out locally, the only way forward is out into the road, where traffic moves at 50mph.
That is not a minor inconvenience. That is a genuine danger to life.
Neighbourhoods across Wales have long dealt with the slow creep of overgrown hedges and verges eating into public footpaths, but campaigners say this Newport case highlights just how badly things can deteriorate when maintenance is not kept on top of.
Local authorities in Wales have a legal duty to keep public highways, including pavements, clear and safe for use. When verges or privately owned hedges grow onto a public path, councils have powers to step in and demand the land owner cuts them back, or carry out the work themselves and bill the owner.
But those powers are only useful when someone actually acts on them. Critics say too many cases like this one drag on for months or even years before anything gets done, while residents are left to take their chances.
The Newport case has sparked fresh calls for the council to carry out urgent clearance work before someone gets seriously hurt. With summer growth season well underway, the problem is only likely to get worse in the short term if nothing is done.
For disabled residents in particular, an inaccessible pavement is not just frustrating, it can mean being effectively cut off from being able to leave the house independently. That has a knock-on effect on mental health, social connection and quality of life.
Parents in the area say they are sick of having to make a split-second judgement call about whether to step into fast-moving traffic or try to battle through the overgrowth with a pram. Neither option should be acceptable on a public road in 2024.
Newport City Council has not yet publicly confirmed when the clearance work will be carried out, but pressure is mounting on the local authority to treat this as the urgent safety issue it clearly is rather than just another item on a long maintenance list.
Residents are hoping it does not take an accident to force action.