'Accident waiting to happen' as council-owned Wellingborough pedestrian bridge to Swansgate shopping centre awaits ‘highly complicated’ fix

Council bosses have admitted that fixing the issue would be ‘highly complicated’, leaving Wellingborough shoppers to navigate around the safety issue on their way to the council-owned car park.

Petra Traynor, who frequently uses the centre said: “The area from the lifts and car park into the centre becomes a slalom on rainy days. Cones and bins should be a temporary measure in an emergency until the issue is resolved. it seems the resolution is to simply add more cones and bins.

"It's an accident waiting to happen. if someone elderly for example falls they will break something and potentially not come out of hospital. Hundreds of people access this shopping centre. We deserve better. We deserve to be safe.

"That is a very hard floor. If someone was to slip and hit their head the consequences don’t bear thinking about.”

North Northants Council (NNC) owns the multi-storey car park that adjoins the shopping centre, which is owned by a third party. However, there was some confusion as to which entity owns the bridge over Commercial Way which connects both buildings with Swansgate centre, correctly, not claiming liability.

Petra says she was told by both NNC and Swansgate that neither are liable for the issue, however NNC has now confirmed that it owns the Commercial Way pedestrian bridge.

Jason Smithers, leader of NNC said: “We are aware of a leak in the Swansgate shopping centre car park and are working hard to resolve the situation as soon as possible.

“The location and potential fix are highly complicated, and we are working with an external supplier to come to a resolution.”