RESIDENTS of Sir William Turner's Almshouses, Redcar, will no longer have to walk along a public highway to reach nearby bus stops.

There are no pavements along the old country road through Kirkleatham and the grass verge narrows to only 18 inches in places. It is adjacent to a 30in drop into the roadside drainage ditch.

According to staff at the almshouses, the slipstream from passing vehicles was sufficient to cause elderly residents and their visitors to lose balance and tumble into the ditch or fall on the roadway.

"The road is quite narrow and often people had to walk in the gutter when vehicles drove past," said resident warden Sheila Simpson, who is responsible for the sheltered accommodation.

"People often got a regular ducking when vehicles splashed through the roadside puddles in bad weather.

"We were always afraid that a resident or a visitor might suffer serious harm."

Three accidents involving the elderly people and vehicles along the 40-yard stretch of road were recorded in the past 15 months.

But now a footpath, made from old York stone flags, has been laid from the bus stops around the miniature castle turret directly to the courtyard of the 17th Century building.

It was jointly funded by Groundwork South Tees and the Community Chest of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's single regeneration budget.

"The footpath is a first-class job and enables us to reach the bus stops safely," said Tony Whatmore, chairman of the Almshouses' Residents' Association.