Pavements cost Norfolk council

Posted 29/08/2009

Norfolk County Council has spent more than £400,000 to settle 85 personal injury claims resulting from trips on pavements since 2004.

Freedom of Information requests made by the Liberal Democrats revealed that local authorities in England have paid out £82 million to compensate people who suffered personal injuries as a result of uneven pavements in the past five years.

In Norfolk, 514 compensation claims arising from accidents allegedly related to the condition of pavements were made against the council during the period, reports the Norwich Evening News.

Although 356 of them were settled without payment, the council paid compensation totalling £417,546 to 85 of the people hurt. The remaining cases are ongoing.

The figures published by the Liberal Democrats showed many local authorities paid out much larger amounts of compensation to settle personal injury claims related to poorly maintained pavements.

Leeds City Council topped the list after paying out more than £10.2 million to settle compensation claims during the period, while Cambridge County Council paid £2.9 million to those who were injured.