After a year-long battle, residents are a step closer to getting a footpath restored on Wiggenhall Road.

Hertfordshire County Council removed the path as part of the building of Thomas Sawyer Way – the new link road running up to Watford General Hospital – but agreed to bring it back after 300 residents from the Watford Fields area signed a petition calling for the walkway to be reinstated.

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A draft design of the footway from the garage at the junction with Lammas Road to the River Colne Bridge has been passed to the traffic signals team. They have four weeks to design and cost the pedestrian crossing phase to be installed within the new signal controlled junction.

Councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst was backed by the Watford Fields Residents Association on a pledge to restore the path.

Cllr Giles-Medhurst said: “This has been a long battle to put right a mistake made by the county officers who had failed to consult local people over this.

“We are getting there and I hope that within the year the path will be back and a safer route for all will once again be in place. I will keep up the pressure until this is achieved.”