Calls for a 10-metre stretch of pavement along a busy school route have been rejected, with a council leader being told it would cost up to £2 million to install.

Every weekday hundreds of children are forced to walk in the road on their way to class because of a missing section of footpath.

The issue, reported repeatedly over many years, concerns the walkway in Buckland Hill in Maidstone,, opposite the Jewsons depot, which runs out at the junction with St Peter’s Street.

Maidstone council leader Cllr Stuart Jeffery, along with fellow Green Party member Cllr Rachel Rodwell who represents Allington and Bridge ward, have been trying to get Kent County Council (KCC) to do something about the missing section for the past two years.

They have now written to the KCC’s cabinet member for highways, Cllr Neil Baker (Con), telling him: “We have tried in vain to persuade your officers to put in a path across the KCC-owned land, just around 10 metres long, to connect the two existing pavements.

“After originally being told by your team that such a path would cost between £30k-£40k, we have now been told that it would cost between £1m and £2m.

“Really? Up to £2m for a 10m pavement across KCC-owned land!”

“Meanwhile, hundreds of children and people in wheelchairs continue to walk in this busy narrow road.”

For comparison, the authority redesigned the nearby Running Horse Roundabout into a turbo-roundabout this year at just a snip of that, spending £650,000 on the redesign which took three weeks of overnight closures to complete.

Buckland Hill leads to Buckland Road, which is home to Maidstone Grammar School for Girls, Maplesden Noakes School and Brunswick House Primary School.

It is also a main route for those visiting nearby Whatman Park.

The existing stretch of pavement a new path would link to is only 1m wide, but the councillors say KCC insists regulations mean it could only install a pavement that was 1.8m wide.

While it is possible for pedestrians to cross the road where the pavement runs out, using an island in the carriageway, they must then cross back again as the footway runs out on the opposite side of the road, just before Maidstone Barracks Station.

As it is, most pedestrians simply take their chances on the road.

Cllr Rodwell added: “This is a tiny stretch of road, but one that results in disabled people having no safe access to the park.

“It beggars belief that it is more acceptable to allow the current risks to continue rather than to accept a thinner than standard pavement.

“In addition to this, the only subway connecting our ward to the town centre continues to flood when it rains, even just mildly, preventing pedestrian access.

“This has been reported repeatedly over many years yet it remains a problem.”

Cllr Jeffery told Cllr Baker: ”Maidstone seems to have the least pedestrian-friendly travel of anywhere in Kent.”

“Your policies seem to be blocking safe pedestrian travel in our ward and beyond – please can these be reviewed?”

A spokesperson from Kent County Council said: "The installation of a pavement along from the railway bridge on Buckland Road in Maidstone is very complex.

'Due to the trees on the embankment at the location, there would be no way of installing a footway without removing all the existing trees and putting in a wall to prevent the sloped footway over the railway bridge from collapsing.

“The electricity and telegraph poles currently present in the embankment would need to be removed or lowered to allow for the installation of a footway. To accommodate this work, a road closure would need to be in place.

“At the current time, KCC is unable to justify the costs to carry out these extensive works.

“There is an alternative route via the steps on the eastern side of the railway bridge which then brings pedestrian out onto the sloped footway leading to the snooker club."

One other local authority, Wiltshire Council, has published estimates for how much the construction of a new footway would cost in its area, suggesting it would be in the region of £250 per metre with kerbing/edgings costing approximately £110 per metre.

However, this does not take into account any associated works or permissions that might be required.