Council pays £60,000 compensation to people who tripped on broken pavements (From Enfield Independent)

Enfield Borough Council blamed for wasting public money after paying more than £60,000 in compensation to people who tripped on broken pavements

5:16pm Wednesday 12th December 2012 in News By Hermione Wright

A councillor has accused Enfield Borough Council of "wasting" public money after it paid out more than £60,000 in compensation to people who tripped on broken pavements.

Compensation claims from 268 people have been lodged against the authority since April 2010 after they fell on broken or uneven pavements.

The Enfield Independent can reveal that 13 people have received pay-offs at a cost to the cash-strapped authority of £60,420.

Councillor Henry Lamprecht, who represents Southgate Green, said: "It is a complete waste of taxpayers' money and it raises the question of why Enfield Council is not preventing this sort of waste by doing what they are supposed to do in the first place: keeping the borough's pavements in good repair."

The figure is set to rise even further, as 125 of the claims are yet to be concluded.

However, the council - which is facing unprecedented cuts from central Government - has successfully defended itself against paying compensation to 130 claimants.

Conservative Councillor Lamprecht added: "The average cost of a paving slab is about £20. Based on that figure the council paid out the equivalent of 3,021 paving slabs worth of money.

"It doesn't take a genius to calculate it would have cost the council a mere £5,360 to replace the  potential 268 broken or cracked paving slabs at a cost of £20 each, avoiding paying out the extra £55,060."