IT'S not exactly the road to nowhere – but it is the street with no name and no owner.Other roads nearby are, well, simply streets ahead when it comes to being looked after, but this one is a street of shame.

By Richard Cornwell

IT'S not exactly the road to nowhere – but it is the street with no name and no owner.

Other roads nearby are, well, simply streets ahead when it comes to being looked after, but this one is a street of shame.

Its drains are blocked, its verges overgrown, and its eight street lights have never been switched on.

No-one will own up to owning it, and residents in the Cavendish Park area of Felixstowe have been left very puzzled by the situation.

"There are roads in this town which are crying out for street lights to make their neighbourhoods feel safer – and here we have eight which have never been switched on," said town and district councillor Dot Paddick.

"It's absolutely ludicrous. They have been there two years. If no-one wants them, I will take them down myself and put them where they are needed, where we cannot afford to put lights.

"Fancy putting up lights and then just leaving unlit. How can someone build a road and walk away from it?

"I have tried to find out who is responsible for this piece of road, but no-one has a clue and it is so frustrating."

The 200 yard stretch of road runs from Grange farm Avenue in front of Cavendish Community Church, behind the Owl and Pussycat pub and Safeway superstore – which both have rear entrances from it – to the Haven Health doctors' surgery.

It was built by developers as an access road to the surgery, but the doctors do not want the responsibility of maintaining it.

Most of the patients park in the Safeway car park, especially as they and surgery staff have complained about the road being dark and unnerving at night in winter without the street lights on.

"I have made around 20 phone calls to try to find out who this road belongs to but no-one is prepared to accept responsibility – they all just want to pass the buck," said Mrs Paddick.

"I have spoken to all the councils, the businesses, and other authorities to see if anyone knows who owns it. No-one does.

"The grass verges are already overgrown and will soon be spreading onto the road because no-one will cut them. If you look down the drains you can see they are blocked with dirt and debris.

"The road surface is perfect, but what happens when that starts to need attention? Someone needs to answer these questions."

Suffolk County Council could not say today whether it owned the road – but it felt it was unlikely that it was a county road. Officials said the situation would be investigated to see whether the council had been asked to take it over.

It is understood when roads are built, developers are required to make them to a certain standard so they can be "adopted" by the county highways department.

The developers then apply to the council for adoption, and if it is agreed the council takes over the maintenance of the street, though sometimes this work is delegated under an agency arrangement to district councils.