Skip to content

MP's petition to remove seven-year-old scaffolding

Amy Holmes
BBC political reporter, Buckinghamshire
Holly Nichols
BBC News
Reporting fromAylesbury
Holly Nichols/BBC Scaffolding in Aylesbury that was put up in 2018. It is against the end building of a row of terraced businesses, which includes burger and Indian restaurants. The side of the building is being propped up with big metal joists that are angled into the ground, and there is tarpaulin across the brickwork. There is blue sky behind the building and white fluffy clouds, and there is a road in front of the scaffolding.Holly Nichols/BBC
The scaffolding was put up in Aylesbury in 2018 after a building collapsed

An MP has started a petition calling on a local council to remove scaffolding that has blocked a pavement for seven years.

Laura Kyrke-Smith, the Labour MP for Aylesbury, said poles put up against a building that collapsed on the town's High Street in 2018 forced pedestrians into a busy road and was an "eyesore".

She said she had "lost count of the number of residents that have been in touch about it".

Buckinghamshire Council said the structure was needed because the building was unsafe and highways users had to be protected, but it was pushing for a solution.

Laura Kyrke-Smith Labour MP Laura Kyrke-Smith next to the scaffolding in Aylesbury. She is tall and has blonde shoulder-length hair. There is a shopping trolley and rubbish next to her and on the other side of the scaffolding there is an Indian restaurant.Laura Kyrke-Smith
MP Laura Kyrke-Smith said she had "lost count" of the number of constituents that had contacted her about the scaffolding

Kyrke-Smith, who was elected as an MP last July, said she felt she had to pick up on the issue "after a year in this job and hearing from so many people about it".

However, she recognised "the difficulty with developing the site because the company that owned it went into liquidation".

She said there had been a couple of failed attempts to auction the site but the building had fallen into Crown ownership, which can happen when land no longer has an owner.

She admitted that made it "very difficult for the council to go ahead and do anything with it", but urged the authority to get a structural engineer to see "how it could be improved or redesigned to make it safer for people to get through".

Tony Fisher/BBC Lynda Bell sat on a mobility scooter in front of the scaffolding. She is right next to a road with a car travelling on it. She has blonde hair, glasses and is wearing a white top with blue jeans.Tony Fisher/BBC
Pictured by the scaffolding last year, Lynda Bell said it was a "pain, not just for me, but for people pushing prams or holding on to children"

One of those affected by it is Lynda Bell who has arthritis, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, and uses a mobility scooter.

She said the scaffolding was highly dangerous as she had to travel on the adjacent A41 for about 20m (66ft), as there was no dropped kerb on the other side.

Sometimes there were also delivery trucks dropping off food to the restaurants that she had to go around.

She said it was "a pain, not just for me, but for people pushing prams or holding on to children but having to walk into the road".

Aylesbury Liberal Democrats A picture of two Liberal Democrat councillors, stood in front of the scaffolding. Sherrilyn Bateman on the left is holding a cake in her hand and is wearing a red and white top, and has pink and blonde hair. Tim Dixon has black glasses and is wearing a white shirt with a yellow party rosette. There is a Happy Birthday sign on the scaffolding.Aylesbury Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrat councillors Sherrilyn Bateman and Tim Dixon baked a cake to mark the scaffolding's seventh anniversary

In April, Aylesbury Liberal Democrat councillors Sherrilyn Bateman and Tim Dixon marked the seventh anniversary of the scaffolding by baking a cake.

Bateman said it was "a complete eyesore" and "fly-tipping happens all the time there".

A spokesperson for the council, run by a minority Conservative administration, said it was "pushing for a redesign of the scaffolding... so it would include a walkway section", with work being progressed "as quickly as we can".

Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

More on this story
Related internet links