THERE has been considerable progress made since a walk around assessment of the Ridgegrove estate, Launceston, was carried out by town and Cornwall councillors with the help of Cornwall Council’s housing officer and technical area officer, writes Zoé Uglow.

On Monday, May 23, Launceston Town Councillor Val Bugden-Cawsey and Liberal Democrat Cornwall Councillors Gemma Massey and Jade Farrington met with Cornwall Council Housing Officer Ruth Harris and Technical Area Officer Russell Leeton to assess the Ridgegrove area and since then the key issues that were raised have been looked in to.

The issues raised were; dangerous unsafe steps, broken fences, overgrown trees, dog fouling, litter, plus unkempt walkways.

Cllr Bugden-Cawsey had initially written to Oliver Jones, the area manager of Cormac Solutions Ltd, to arrange a walk around visit at Ridgegrove to assess the area.

Cllr Bugden-Cawsey said: “The major issues re the infrastructure at Ridgegrove have been on going for a considerable length of time. I picked up on this whilst canvassing earlier in the year and working closely with several residents in the Ridgegrove area.

“I managed to get a site visit with Cornwall Council’s building inspector Russell Leeton, which wasn’t easy.

“I want to express my immense thanks to Oliver Jones for all the work he did in arranging this meeting.

“We spent a productive hour assessing the sites of most concern and true to his word, Mr Leeton went back and actioned what he promised.

“This has really been all about listening to residents, being proactive in the community and working to help the town make changes to improve — the main focus is to try and help those people who ask for it.”

Since the visit, and thanks to the Cormac team, some of the steps have already been fixed. The Cory team has also been carrying out additional litter picks across the estate along with weed killing and a further sweep through scheduled to be held over the next week.

Cllr Massey has also managed to secure an additional bin, via Cornwall Council contracts team, to be put in place to help solve the ongoing dog fouling and small litter issues. This will be placed for a test period to monitor usage.

She said: “Fighting with budget cuts and shortfalls always makes even the smallest of changes difficult, but this has been a great start.

“These are only small improvements, but a step in the right direction. It has been a real team effort from both councils, housing and highways.

“I look forward to seeing the ongoing improvements continue, not just in Ridgegrove but across Launceston as a whole.”