Highways officials have defended a decision to close an “unsafe” footpath in Sudbury but are reassuring the community they are treating the issue as a priority.

Residents of Newton Road, Sudbury, recently handed a petition to the town council urging the authority to intervene to get the 50-year-old alleyway between Newton and Cornard roads reinstated.

Suffolk County Council closed the path in June following the discovery of significant structural defects on the ground underpinning it and they later installed heavy metal gates to stop people from accessing the pathway.

This left locals feeling frustrated because they have to use Ingram’s Well Road, which has no path and is lined with parked cars.

The town council has written to the county’s cabinet member for roads, Graham Newman, for reassurance. Last night, a county council spokesman said: “We are giving top priority to trying to resolve this problem. An investigation has (now) been carried out and we are due to receive the engineers’ final report shortly. We will then be in a position to advise on the next steps we will be taking by the end of October.”

At a previous council meeting county councillor John Sayers said: “I have complete sympathy with the people who are here about what is a serious lack of progress on getting this attended to.

“We have been let down thoroughly with a lot of broken promises.”