PARISH councillors are at loggerheads with highways bosses over their refusal to resurface a 50-metre footpath. West Walton Parish Council wants Norfolk County Council to repair the footpath through the bell tower of St Mary s Church to the King of Hearts

PARISH councillors are at loggerheads with highways bosses over their refusal to resurface a 50-metre footpath.

West Walton Parish Council wants Norfolk County Council to repair the footpath through the bell tower of St Mary's Church to the King of Hearts pub in the village.

It says it is a public footpath, which should be the county council's responsibility. Parish council chairman Councillor Chris Gray, pictured, said: "We have been writing to the county council for about a year.

"It is dangerous and full of potholes and we are worried for the elderly and disabled people who use it as well as mothers with pushchairs."

It is understood the bell tower, built about 1240, is the responsibility of the Churches Conservation Trust, but not the footpath.

Cllr Gray said it may have been almost 20 years since any work had been done to the footpath.

A county council spokesman said: "This section of path is not adopted highway, therefore it wouldn't be right for us to spend public money on resurfacing a private footway.