All some Bell Block rest home resident’ s want is a footpath extension so they don’t have to keep risking their life before they die.The Maida Vale resident’s are mobility scooter users from the Bell Block retirement village essentially cut off from accessing the shops at New Plymouth’s Valley Mega Centre because a footpath stops 180 metres short. “They can get down all right, because they can just go over the grass track where the footpath ends on Devon Rd. But when they are coming back they can’t get up that way so they foolishly have to go on the road until the New Plymouth golf course. While the section of SH3 on Devon Rd does have a buffer strip on which they can drive their mobility scooter’s, it is not for the faint-hearted. The section of road is one of Taranaki’s busiest and has a speed limit ranging between between 70kph and 100kph. Residents know they are risking their lives every time they take their scooters on it. A temporary solution would seem as simple as building a 1 metre-long “drive way” in the gutter to allow mobility scooters access to the footpath near Vickers Rd. Ideally, a path would be built connecting the existing footpath to Vickers Rd. Council walking and cycling boss Carl Whittleston said the council was committed to building a path for mobility scooter users and was negotiating with Fitzroy Engineering and Technix, the two companies which own the land where a footpath would ideally be built.
