FORE Street’s pavements, which have been causing problems for pedestrians for many months, will be fixed early in the New Year.

This work was already programmed by Devon County Council as part of its ongoing highways maintenance schedule, but extra funding come from a partnership of County Councillors Julian Brazil and Rufus Gilbert, District Councillor Keith Wingate and Kingsbridge Town Council.

240 square metres of pavement were to be lifted and re-laid, and with the help of the partnership this has been doubled to around 500 square metres and the use of a new bonding technique assures the longevity of the repairs.

Also bollards will be installed, where the footway is wide enough to accommodate them, in order to prevent vehicles driving on to the pavement to wreck all the good work.

A notice has been issued to stop the use of all parking and loading bays on the left hand side of Fore Street from Tuesday, January 3, to Friday, February 24, an eight week period.

Kingsbridge Town Clerk Martin Johnson explained: ‘This is required because of the close proximity of the works to the road itself and the need for barriers and a safety zone to protect the South West Highways team on site.

‘Therefore the parking and loading bays will be used to ensure traffic keeps moving and it means the road does not have to be closed.

‘However, you are strongly advised to only drive up Fore Street if you need to and to use the Cookworthy Road bypass if you are merely driving through. The works will take place section by section, so in effect there may still be bays available but loading and unloading to local shops must take priority and shoppers are strongly requested to use Fore Street Car Park for the duration.

‘It means you may have a slightly longer walk to the shops and, similar to all highways work, it is likely to be frustrating at times but this is the nature of such projects.

‘But remember Fore Street will be “business as usual” throughout and it will not affect your shopping experience. Keep your shopping local!

‘The Kingsbridge community will be left with a level and safe pavement which will encourage greater footfall and lead to a boon to our wonderful range of independent shops.

‘How will we keep it this way? By not driving on to the pavement and not misusing the loading bays which means that delivery vehicles can unload where they are supposed to. This is a pivotal issue to protect the heartbeat of our town - let’s all buy into it.’