A Gilford woman is calling for major improvements to be made to the town’s footpaths as her sister continues to struggle to navigate them one year on from a serious fall.
Monica Gorman – who lives in Gilford alongside her sister Mary Early – has watched Mary become increasingly fearful of leaving home on her mobility scooter over the last two years.
Mary (56) – who before her disability worked as a nurse – is paralysed along her entire left hand side and began using a ‘pavement only’ mobility scooter in 2023 to help her maintain a level of independence, allowing her to visit the doctor, chemist and local shops without assistance.
However, in 2024 she took a bad fall when she attempted to leave the kerb of one of the pavements – which Monica says could be “four to five inches high” in some places – on her way into town. During the incident, Mary ended up on her side in the road with the mobility scooter “on top of her”.
Speaking to Armagh I, Mary explained: “I was going down the town on the footpath and there was a house on the left so there was a wee lip down but to go up on the other side of the road there was nothing so I just had to go for it and I couldn’t get up so it tipped and fell on top of me.”
The experience left her badly shaken and Monica says she continues to be fearful when heading out alone.
So inaccessible are the footpaths in the area that Mary says she has “spent thousands of pounds on a mobility scooter but can’t get out of my home”.
The scooter she has is not suitable for road use and must be used on footpaths only, however, even if it were road legal, Mary admits she would not “feel safe on the roads either”.
At the time of the incident, Monica contacted several local representatives to ask if they could bring the uneven pavements’ “out-dated kerbing” and poor surfacing up to standard.
At the invitation of Monica and Mary, Sinn Féin Councillor Kevin Savage even attended the town and attempted to navigate the footpaths himself on one of the mobility scooters – an offer they are again extending today to any councillors who may wish to experience it for themselves.
Finding their complaint compelling, Monica says Councillor Savage took the issue forward to the Department for Infrastructure, who “acknowledged the general poor condition which was due to age and a considerable number of utility track reinstatements”, and explained that the location had been added to a “footway resurfacing programme” and work would be conducted when “resources became available”.
The councillor also requested an assessment for dropped kerbs and was advised that this would also be “added to a future programme”.
Now – one year on – Monica is again raising the issue explaining that there are at least six other mobility scooter users in the town who are all experiencing problems using the footpaths.
She is calling for the footpath surface to be made even from the top of Dunbarton bungalows all the way into the town centre – which would service all current scooter users – and for ramps to be introduced where kerbing should drop to allow users to cross the road safely.
The area Mary and Monica are most keen to see upgraded pertains to Hill Street leading from Dunbarton Bungalows into Gilford town itself – an area which they deem to have one of the highest populations of elderly and immobile residents in the area.
Monica continued: “It’s not much to ask for disabled people to have a wee bit of independence.”
Gilford – as a town – has rarely been out of headlines in the last number of months following the closure of several independent businesses and its shocking number of vacant commercial properties.
Many residents have called for investment and support from council, with one individual even contacting this publication at the start of May to comment on the town’s woeful state and subsequent decline in its inhabitants’ mental health.
That resident’s scathing overview of the situation was to say “let this be a lesson” adding that, “council had failed to act years ago when appeals were put in for support”. Their view in its entirety is that Gilford is “not on the agenda”.
Monica and Mary’s concern for the town’s inaccessibility for its own residents now adds to Gilford’s growing list of problems.
However, when contacted for comment on the general issues in Gilford, Cllr Savage was able to shed light on some positive news for the area.
Speaking to Armagh I, Cllr Savage explained: “The council is taking forward a Small Settlement Scheme which is taking place in Gilford, Markethill and Rathfriland.
“There is going to be new pavement located from the community club on Castle Hill in a separate pot of funding from the Department for Communities. We are going to try and do some public realm work to the lighting and replace some pavement along Hill Street which should be starting soon.
“And I think there is going to be a walkway opened up between Castleview and the Castle Hill area in a plaza-type style which has been approved.”
Cllr Savage was also keen to look at the positives in the town and reassure the public that council are working towards further improvements in the area.
He said: “There is a lot of good work that goes on in Gilford with the Changing Lives NI charity with Leanne Carey and individuals involved like that are doing a fantastic job.
“It does need revitalisation and a lot of the smaller settlements like it. All the councillors across the parties in the Banbridge DEA are involved in trying to make that happen and are trying our best.
“We are hoping that at some stage this year Department for Communities will have a new funding package for those settlements just outside the population range that we can’t accommodate at the minute so that we can get something.”
A Department for infrastructure spokesperson said: ‘The Department has assessed Hill Street and Dunbarton Street in Gilford along with other locations in the village for the installation of dropped kerbs and footpath resurfacing. It should be noted that due to a gradient along Dunbarton Street a change to the road kerb level will be needed to allow full accessibility access from the footpath, which will require significant works.
“These schemes will be considered within a future works programme, with works dependent on funding that is available.”
