UNEVEN pavements are the scourge of modern living. You only have to read the pages of the BEN to see how irritated the general public gets about wonky pavements.

The news and letter pages are full of stories regarding falls and trips caused by poorly maintained paving stones.

But it's not just a pain for members of the public who fall over or trip. It's a major issue for the council which last year paid out nearly £1 million in compensation to members of the public.

A report in the BEN last month covered the story of two Westhoughton councillors who claimed that uneven pavements in the town had not been fixed, more than a year after three elderly women took bad tumbles.

And Cllr David Wilkinson and Cllr Janet Halliwell further claimed that Bolton Council was trying to put people off claiming compensation for accidents.

A claim hotly denied by the council, which at the same time, admits that it is actively working at cutting down the spiralling? compensation bill for the hundreds of people who claim to have tripped up on Bolton pavements every year.

Although year on year less people are making claims against the council, 437 in 1994, and 241 in 1997, the amount being paid out in compensation has been steadily increasing.

In 1994 the average pay-out was £1,878. This had risen to a staggering £4,815 by 1997.

In 1994 the amount of cash put aside for third party damage insurance was £512,000. By last year this had risen to £850,000.

And the signs are that these burgeoning costs will continue to rise if efforts are not made to reduce them.

In 1997, 241 people tried to sue the council for a staggering total of more than a million pounds. Thirty four of the claims were settled, leaving 207 outstanding claims. These claims will either be thrown out, settled out of court, or disputed and taken to court. Some claims take many years to settle. From the 437 claims made against the council in 1994, 43 are still outstanding.

And council bosses believe that there is a growing number of fraudulent claims being made by the public.

Jeff Layer, head of environmental management, explains how the council is leading a fightback against compensation claims.

There is now a dedicated inspection four-man team in place undertaking highway condition inspections at the recommended frequencies, and in accordance with the newly developed Code of Practice. In addition, a dedicated band of workers, are repairing defects within approved response times, which vary from four hours to 15 days, depending on the severity of the fault.

By next month the council will have spent almost £100,000 repairing the three footways blamed in most cases against the council - Chorley New Road, Horwich; Buckley Lane, Farnworth; and Victoria Square in the town centre.

Inspectors also check roads for hazards and their detailed records make it easier for insurers to weed out the increasing number of bogus claims at an early stage.

"If we know about defects and fail to repair them we leave ourselves wide open to claims. Which is why we are taking a much more proactive stance. If we believe that we have acted properly we will defend ourselves. We are acting on behalf of council tax payers. We have a duty to the public at large to ensure we spend the money they pay in taxes in the most appropriate way, not just paying out compensation claims," says Mr Layer .

"If we pay out less in insurance claims we can spend more money on repairs, which will be of benefit to the whole community."

And to date this proactive attitude is proving a success. In the past few months council solicitors have been winning court battles. Regular monitoring in line with national guidelines is acceptable as a defence, putting the onus on the claimant to prove negligence. A difficult feat if the council can prove it is doing all it can to remedy defects on walkways.

But Mr Layer stressed that the point of the exercise is not to try and put people off making genuine claims for compensation, if they have an accident.

"But we do not want to raise people's hopes that if they have an accident they are necessarily going to get a compensation pay out."

Mr Layer added that the council had won two recent battles and one claimant had been forced to pay the council's legal costs.

If the council continues to enjoy success in court, it should mean that more money is available for repairs, which at the same time should make journeys along the borough's walkways a much safer exercise.

We'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, watch how you go!

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.