Maldon Town Council is considering the possibility of adding bollards to the High Street to prevent people from parking their cars on the pavement.

Members of the town council discussed the idea in a meeting last night (Monday 25 October), on the suggestion of Councillor Jane Fleming, who also sits on Essex County Council.

Councillor Fleming said: "We've had several terrible incidents of elderly people falling over because of broken paving slabs.

"People parking on pavements is not helping that."

She added: "People can suffer life-changing injuries because of tripping on a broken slab."

Councillor Michael Pearlman said: "There's no enforcement and it's a free-for-all at the moment - it's very, very dangerous."

Members, however, raised concerns that the bollards would clutter the High Street.

Councillor Stephen Nunn said: "There would need to be a lot of them - I think there would be clutter."

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He added: "It flies in the face of the district council's plan to reinvigorate the High Street - the area outside shops."

Councillor Peter Stilts said: "I know it looks ugly, but if people can't park there they tend to go away."

In response to concerns about the visual appearance of the bollards, Councillor Fleming said that they would be "in keeping with the historic core" of the town by, for instance, being wrought iron and black in colour.

She said that, to begin with, bollards could be added to a stretch of the High Street and then "go further if successful".

She added that the idea might not pass the Local Highway Panel (LHP) validation process, but that she would put it forward to panel members during their next meeting in November.

Councillor Fleming asked councillors to email their thoughts on the idea to her ahead of the meeting.