TOWN hall bosses are weighing up a request for it to adopt an 'eyesore' path in Altrincham town centre.

Environmental improvement group 'Our Altrincham' has called for the council to take responsibility for the heavily used footway which provides disabled access from Denmark Street to Altrincham Interchange, passing under Moss Lane railway bridge.

Our Altrincham director Sarah Walmsley said it has "long been an eyesore attracting anti-social behaviour, vandalism, fly-tipping and offensive graffiti.

"Our Altrincham volunteers have cleaned it up on numerous occasions and the landowner has replaced three vandalised fences in the past 10 years, but the footway continues to be abused largely by children and young adults who loiter and create cut-throughs to Back Grafton Street."

She added they recently met with the landowner to suggest improvement works.

"Some tree work has been undertaken by the landowner to make it lighter and less intimidating, and CCTV cameras are being brought in to use to deter anti-social behaviour.

“However, issues such as obstructions, litter clearance, lighting maintenance and boundary management still need to be addressed.”

But she believes the solution is for Trafford Council to adopt it: “We are all proud of the improvements made at Altrincham Interchange and on the nearby pedestrian walkway transformed by Altrincham In Bloom.

“But this footway needs attention. We are just asking Trafford to adopt the pathway as they clearly intended and to work closely with the landowner to resolve the other issues, preferably before the North West In Bloom judges arrive in mid-July.”

Trafford Council said that, after receiving a request from the landowner, it was looking at the legalities relating to a potential footway adoption.

An issue that has to be resolved is flooding problems on sections of the footway. The landowners have been told that if they satisfactorily resolve the flooding problems, they would then be able to proceed with a formal footway adoption request.

While this request was progressing, the council said it would continue to provide whatever support and advice it could to the landowners.