A NEW £500,000 kitty is being created to improve pavements across Worcestershire, it has emerged.

Your Worcester News revealed last month how the county council's Conservative leadership rejected a request to spend £2 million on footpath repairs.

At the time, the opposition Green and Liberal Democrat parties wanted to water down a £12 million roads improvement programme to fund it.

Councillor Simon Geraghty, the new leader, now says he has found some wriggle room in the 2016/17 budget to keep the £12 million 'Driving Home' project intact and earmark an extra £500,000 to pavements at the same time.

It follows concern that too many footpaths around Worcestershire are in a poor state of maintenance.

Councillor Geraghty said: "We've reflected on the motion (from the Lib Dems and Greens) and based on the best professional advice, have decided not to take any money from the Driving Home programme, we want to keep that as it is.

"But we've looked very carefully at our other resources and that's why we are able to make this £500,000 allocation."

Other members of the Tory administration said they were adamant the £12 million roads project, which will last two years, could not be reduced.

Councillor John Smith, the cabinet member for highways, said: "The £12 million spend over two years will maintain and get our roads into a steady state - everyone in the county uses them one way or the other.

"And in terms of the footpaths, the extra £500,000 means they will be maintained and improved where the need is most required."

The £500,000 is on top of the existing footpaths maintenance budget, which is around £800,000, and other funding pots councillors can dip into which will be £15,000 each for the next financial year, focusing on their individual divisions.

The move has led to a lukewarm response from opposition councillors who originally called for the £2 million paths spend.

Green Councillor Matthew Jenkins said today: "It's less than we would have wanted, obviously.

"We want to shift the focus a bit, for me it highlights that while they are spending on the roads, we do need more focus on footpaths."

The Driving Home scheme will see record sums spent on urban and rural unclassified roads, giving them a mix of improvements including full resurfacing, odd patch work and surface dressing.

The Conservative leadership says since 2010 more than £9 million has been sunk into pavements, but it has 1,972 miles of the network to try and maintain.

* Calls to water down £12m Worcestershire roads upgrade and sink £2m into pavements instead

* We can't spend £2m on footways but we'll consider spending less, says council leadership