General News
6 February, 2026
Frustration over faulty footpath
A 79-year-old wheelchair bound woman says she is being forced to put her life at risk because of a section of footpath she cannot negotiate with her scooter, forcing her to have to venture onto a public road to get around it.
Lee Deam uses her mobility scooter to access shops from her home in Whiting Street, Atherton, but because of a section of footpath outside the Education and Learning Centre slopes inward, she cannot drive over the area and has to go out onto the roadway to get past the section before she can get back on the path.
“The way the footpath slopes in towards the building means I would tip over trying to use it, so I have to go onto the road which is dangerous because there is a corner right there,” she said.
“Cars can’t see you before they turn the corner – a lady nearly hit me the other day, it scared the shit out of me and the lady.”
Mrs Deam contacted Tablelands Regional Council about the issue and was subsequently contacted by an officer who agreed the footpath was dangerous and needed to be fixed.
“But then the same officer called me back and said the council would not be fixing it because they don’t have the money,” she said.
“I told him I had to use the road to get around it and that was putting me in danger so how do I get to the shops and he just responded ‘don’t go on the road’.”
Mrs Deam said she used to go on a different route which took her past a local school and avoided the problem area of footpath but she will no longer use that route out of fear.
“A woman I know who lives near there said two women had been attacked in recent months, so I am not going to go that way because I fear I might get attacked,” she said.
Mrs Deam is adamant the council should fix the footpath area on Whiting Street and has warned that if anyone gets hurt, the council will have to bear the blame.
“I have now made the council aware of this problem, so if I or others get hurt, they have been made aware of the danger – they have been put on notice,” she said.
The Express advised Mrs Deam to contact the chief executive officer at TRC with her situation and it is understood that is what she was planning to do late last week.
