A FOOTPATH in Hagley has been fenced off for almost two years due to "red-tape" and a "lack of communication".

When planning permission was granted for the McCarthy and Stone retirement apartments in Park Road, Hagley, in 2014, a planning condition was that a public footpath and cycleway was installed between that development and Hagley Primary School.

The footpath was completed in 2016 but has remained boarded up ever since as it has now emerged that it was built without approval from Worcestershire County Council Highways.

Bromsgrove District Councillor for Hagley East, Rachel Jenkins, who has contacted the council on the issue, said: "I'm surprised that the public footpath has taken this long from when it should have been opened.

"Red-tape and lack of communication has prevented this opening on time.

"I have been reassured that everything is being done to rectify the delay with work starting imminently, hopefully with the pathway open this summer.

"Having continual contact with officers at the county council I have tried to ensure a swift resolution to this problem.

"Being a local district council planning issue it was a condition of the McCarthy and Stone development that this new footpath should be in use before the Sanderson Court residents moved in. This has not been the case.

"This delay is not acceptable and I am doing all I can to ensure this facility is opened as soon as possible."

A spokesman for McCarthy and Stone said: they "remain committed to delivering the footpath" and are seeking "technical approval" to complete the path and open it.

A council spokesman added: "We are working with McCarthy and Stone on the best way forward."