Wigan councillor's response after complaints over wet leaves

Equipped with brushes and dustpans, Coun Anthony Sykes and his son removed the autumnal leaves recently on a narrow section of the path on Liverpool Road in Ashton.

Their quick action was prompted by a resident who contacted him with fears that pedestrians especially pensioners could fall and get hurt if nothing is done to address the problem.

Knowing that the council are stretched dealing with the coronavirus crisis, the pair decided to take things into their own hands.

Coun Sykes, who posted a video on Twitter talking about his efforts, said: “A resident contacted me with concerns about pedestrians especially OAPs slipping on large amounts of autumnal leaf fall on Liverpool Road.

“There are some old very narrow sections.

“With services stretched by Covid-19, myself and my son decided to get stuck in instead.”

He said: “A report like this wouldn’t be considered super urgent with everything else going on. So I thought by the time the council took action, we could do it quicker.

“There are a lot of council staff self-isolating at the moment also.

“There was a section of pavement near St Oswalds Road where there is a little car park nearby that does go very narrow and there were a lot of leaves there.

“The path is very narrow and there was a risk people could slip and injure themselves.”