Dangerous pavements are trapping older people in loneliness.

A YouGov survey carried out for campaign group Living Streets has found that older people find walking beneficial for their wellbeing. Poorly maintained and dangerous pavements are discouraging them from getting out, leaving many vulnerable to loneliness.

North Staffs Green Party have given their support to a campaign calling for local authorities to take action on this issue.

The reasons the older people questioned said they valued walking included as a way of exercising (78%), an opportunity to get out of the house (67%) and being out in the fresh air (65%).

The government’s loneliness strategy published late last year recognises that it is important for people to stay active as they get older and walking is an excellent way of doing so.

The survey found that the older people questioned said they would walk more if pavements were better maintained (48%), with a significant number (31%) saying they were put off by cracked and uneven pavements.

Respondents also expressed concern about air quality, with 11% saying they were put off by the risks posed by pollution.

A recent survey for Age UK found that 1.4million older people report feeling lonely, this is set to rise to 2million within seven years.

Living Streets chief executive Joe Irvin said: ‘if we viewed our streets through the lens of an older person, a child or a wheelchair user we would soon begin to see how unfit for purpose a lot of them are’.

On average councils spend 12% of their local transport infrastructure on walking and cycling. As part of their #nine90 campaign Living Streets wan to see that raised to 15% and to highlight the need to design street layouts with 9 to 90year olds in mind.

Joe Irvin said: ‘having well maintained pavements will help older adults walk more, we want local authorities to be reassessing their streets to see how they could be made better for everyone’.

North Staffs Green Party have announced their support for #nine90, Campaign Coordinator Adam Colclough said ‘during the recent local elections the people we met on the doorstep told us how concerned they were about the state of pavements around the city’

He added ‘we are supporting the Living Streets campaign because we need to tackle the health problems caused by social isolation and to address the long-standing problems our city has had with poor air quality and public health’.