A TOWN council has asked the local authority for answers and reassurance over access to a well-used footpath.

Liskeard Town Council has formally resolved to press Cornwall Council to “enable safe walking routes which maximise access through the Cattle Market car park and Varley Lane; and suitable parking, especially for people with disabilities, during the construction of the Integrated Services Hub and to ensure improved access following completion of the build”.

Around 25 members of the public attended a council meeting where this issue was just one item on a busy agenda.

It’s almost a month since Cornwall Council’s project at the former Cattle Market began, and since the ramp and footpath between the car park and Varley Lane were fenced off. A petition signed by 800 people and a public meeting have prompted the local authority to establish an alternative route.

The temporary path has not yet been confirmed and could take the form of a walkway around the building site, or pedestrianising part of Varley Lane.

The loss of car parking spaces during construction is also at the forefront of concerns, with the effect this might have on businesses hosted by Liskerrett and groups that meet at the centre.

In response to a proposal to give up some of the contractor spaces, Cornwall Council’s head of property said that this area of the car park will be well-used as the full build gets under way. Liskerrett continues to press for dedicated spaces for those with limited mobility.

There’s been a clamour from some to place or avoid blame for the parking and footpath situation – with town councillors, members of the Cattle Market redevelopment group and Cornwall Council all coming under fire for their part in what happened or didn’t happen at the planning stage.

In the background is the history of how changes at the Cattle Market were discussed and planned.

While the focus for most people is now getting the current situation resolved, the backdrop may explain an unpleasant tone that has crept in to recent meetings and interactions.

A three-day workshop in 2019 involved many local people in producing a masterplan. A memorandum of understanding was made between Cornwall Council, Liskeard Town Council and Liskerrett. The plans as they stood were to include a new community centre on the development site, with the current Liskerrett building, a fairly dilapidated former primary school, to be sold.

But Liskerrett’s trustees say that with a change of leadership on Cornwall Council the community centre was quietly dropped from the overall plan and that “there has never been any public acknowledgement that the plans had changed.”

They say that money would have been invested in the fabric of the building, had management known what the future held.