IT may be only a strip of tarmac but this new footpath makes the world of difference to mums and disabled people in a West Oxfordshire village.

A long-awaited footpath between Hailey and Witney means people will no longer need to use an un-paved footpath alongside a busy road.

Instead they can now use the new metre-wide footpath running beside the B4022 Hailey Road.

Hailey Parish Council received £8,000 from the Big Lottery Fund and gave £4,000 from its budget, while The Hailey Relief in Need Charity Trust put in the rest.

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The path runs about 150 metres from the junction of Hailey Road with Chapel Lane to the junction of Hailey Road with Poffley End Lane.

Part of the footpath was put down about five years ago and the latest work is the final link to Witney.

Parish council chairman Graham Knaggs said: “People used to tramp along the muddy footpath and it’s now nicely tarmaced.

“The shops in Hailey closed years ago, and while there are a couple of pubs there’s no longer anywhere to buy food.

“The path will also help to link up other footpaths in the areas used by walkers as a leisure facility.

“We are very grateful to the charity and the lottery as without them it wouldn’t have happened as parish councils don’t have access to massive amounts of money.”

Trust treasurer Pam Simpkins said: “It’s absolutely terrific, they’ve made a super job of it and it’s wide enough to get a motorised buggy through and a wheelchair along there.

“Previously people were pushing wheelchairs along the road and the traffic comes particularly fast along there.”

The path was completed by Witney contractors G Hill and Sons just before Christmas.

The trust was originally set up to support orphans and widows between 1652 and 1786, when four separate benefactors left legacies and donations.

In 1977 it was combined in one charity and its remit was widened to support the sick and elderly.

It gives occasional donations such as funding stairlifts and providing 21 hampers to elderly residents before Christmas.

The parish council’s last major project was £4,000 on two flashing 30mph signs going into the village on the Witney and New Yatt roads, and was completed last month.

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