Cobbles could be ripped up

County surveyor John Sanders admitted on Tuesday that the cobbles - which have caused scores of people to trip and suffer serious injuries - have landed the county council with several compensation claims, some of which, he believed, had led to payments being handed out.

He said that if plans for reducing traffic in the town centre could be realised, the cobbles would no longer be necessary.

"One of the reasons the cobbled road went in was to slow the traffic down. If traffic volumes could be reduced significantly, there would be less of a need for that surface. We can move to the option of having the area paved right through - block paving would be extended to remove the cobbles."

The proposal was warmly welcomed this week by former Carrick councillor Les Parry, who has campaigned against the cobbles since his wife Barbara fell and broke her hip in March.

He said: "I'm delighted to think that at last they have recognised the dangers they pose to people," he said. "It's a disgrace the amount of people who have suffered because of those uneven cobbles. My wife has only just started to be able to walk in public with confidence again because of her fall. It has been a terrible six months."

Mrs Parry's case was one of several highlighted by the Packet since August last year, when two women suffered serious falls on the same day.

Over the following weeks and months, scores of local people contacted the newsroom with examples of their own injuries they had suffered after stumbling on loose stones.

In one of the most serious cases, 75-year old Jean Sadler, who worked at the Falmouth Arts Centre, was so badly injured after a fall on Church Street that she was left needing a social worker help her dress, go shopping and take a bath. She was also unable to return to her job.

The cobbles have been a controversial issue in Falmouth since they were laid a decade or more ago. Many traders, particularly on Church Street, resented the fact that they were never extended all the way through the town, as was originally planned. Others bemoan the fact that the softer stone, on the "pavements" at the side of the road, has become cracked and broken by heavy lorries causing an uneven surface.

In the past few weeks repair work has been carried out and many uneven cobbles and setts have been relaid, five outside Marks and Spencer. his wife Barbara fell and broke her hip in March.

He said: "I'm delighted to think that at last they have recognised the dangers they pose to people," he said. "It's a disgrace the amount of people who have suffered because of those uneven cobbles. My wife has only just started to be able to walk in public with confidence again because of her fall. It has been a terrible six months."

Mrs Parry's case was one of several highlighted by the Packet since August last year, when two women suffered serious falls on the same day.

Over the following weeks and months, scores of local people contacted the newsroom with examples of their own injuries they had suffered after stumbling on loose stones.

In one of the most serious cases, 75-year old Jean Sadler, who worked at the Falmouth Arts Centre, was so badly injured after a fall on Church Street that she was left needing a social worker help her dress, go shopping and take a bath. She was also unable to return to her job.

The cobbles have been a controversial issue in Falmouth since they were laid a decade or more ago. Many traders, particularly on Church Street, resented the fact that they were never extended all the way through the town, as was originally planned. Others bemoan the fact that the softer stone, on the "pavements" at the side of the road, has become cracked and broken by heavy lorries causing an uneven surface.

In the past few weeks repair work has been carried out and many uneven cobbles and setts have been relaid, five outside Marks and Spencer.