A woman has called out Buckinghamshire Council after a 'vital' underpass on a busy roundabout was closed.
St Mary’s Way underpass in Chesham has seen several floods over the years, occasionally leading to a full closure of the subway lasting for months and causing outrage among residents.
After the latest incident of flooding, the underpass has been shut for months, Chesham resident Dorothy Geller said.
She said: “As a result, young children are having to cross over a busy road to reach an alternate crossing, to then safely cross into the town centre.
“This unfairly effects disabled, young and old folk who will not have the physical ability to run around the busy road trying to get across.
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“With summer holidays approaching the council will have blood on their hands if young children are trying to make a dash for it to get over the two lanes of busy traffic!
“This underpass is a vital piece of infrastructure for the town, the elderly, children and anyone that wants to walk into town to keep fit are being directly [affected].
“But the worse part of this is that the council have received multiple complaints over years and still nothing is done.”
She said she felt the Council’s social media posts promoting more exercise children and fresh air were “a waste of time” and “double standards” if vital access points were not maintained.
The Council had recently invested money in electric vehicle charging points to make Bucks greener, but “completely neglected” basic infrastructure that allows walking into the town centre, the “greenest of green living," she said.
Buckinghamshire Council's cabinet member for transport Steven Broadbent said: "We're aware that the subway at St Mary's Way in Chesham has suffered from flooding, which has forced the council to close it. This has happened before due to the streams running under the town and the impacts of high ground water.
"Our engineers have inspected the subway and pumps, and repair work to clear the flooding and service the pumps will take place this Thursday. We hope to reopen the subway shortly after this work is completed.
"We apologise for any disruption. In the meantime, we ask residents to use the other safe crossing points over the high street."
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