WORK to reopen a long-closed Hereford footpath could begin within weeks, a Herefordshire Councillor has said.

Councillor John Harrington, cabinet member for transport and infrastructure, said he anticipated that the next steps to repair and reopen the footpath between the Saracen's Head and the river Wye would be taken within the next six weeks, in response to a question asked by a member of the public ahead of Thursday's cabinet meeting.

"I do agree we need to reopen this path as soon as possible and have been pushing on this regularly since its closure," said Coun Harrington.

"This a complicated one. The path is supported by the adjacent buildings connected to the pub and we needed to establish the condition of the supports and what the appropriate repair works are that need to be done by the building owner and the council. There was a considerable delay caused by differences of opinion of ownership and who was responsible for the works. This has been amicably resolved and some shoring works have been done by the owners, allowing us to then assess the integrity of the Victorian concrete supporting beam. This took time and there is no simple solution to this repair. A survey was needed due to the age and condition of the path and the supporting beams and specialised contractors were required to undertake the survey, which we could not do outside certain times due to river levels and the need to work from the river. We undertook a preliminary survey last year. The extensive survey of the beams is programmed to be complete next week. The information will then be collated and modelled.

"As soon as we have the condition confirmed we will be able to take the next steps to repair and reopen the path. I anticipate this will be within the next six weeks."