At an Ashby Town Council meeting on 8 September, Leicestershire County Council leader Dan Harrison and other councillors had to be told multiple times to stop shouting during discussions of Footpath O89 that has been closed through Wainwright's Yard. 

The footpath, which connects the road outside Ivanhoe School to the new Money Hill carpark, was closed with a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order in June. 

The town council and many local residents hoped the footpath would reopen in time for the end of the school holidays as many pupils use the route to get to and from school. 

However, the footpath remains shut with the deadline to reopen in December with doubts cast over whether the footpath will be reopened. 

Throughout the closure of the footpath, both Ashby Town Councillors and Ashby residents have criticised the Ashby County Councillor Dan Harrison for his handling of the matter. 

At the Ashby Town Council Planning and Transport meeting on 8 September, Cllr Harrison attended to address the footpath closure. 

During the meeting, Cllr Harrison claimed he 'had no part in' the footpath closure, only hearing about it afterwards. 

He said 'there's been a huge cry from the town council battling hard and fast saying we want this, we want that' but said they were fighting for only a 3 ft path when he proposed a 9 ft cycle path that would accommodate pedestrians, cyclists and wheelchair users. The said this would be lit at night and be properly surfaced to make it more accessible. 

This idea, though met positively, received scepticism from Town Councillors over the time it would take for this to be approved, funded and implemented. 

'If we are going to do it,' responded Cllr Harrison, 'we're going to do it proper. 

'There is more work to be done, but if ever you can be optimistic as I am simply because obviously they've shown interest or willingness to try and move forward.' 

However, despite Cllr Harrison's description of the plans for the footpath sounding positive, there was frustration among Town Councillors over the lack of information he could provide over when this new proposed footpath would be put in place and when residents will be able to use the footpath again. 

When asked by Councillor Damilola Ojuri, Mayor of Ashby, about when he thought the footpath would be reopened, Cllr Harrison responded by saying 'I honestly don't know. It could be two months, it would be three months, it could be six months – I don't know.' 

During the meeting, Cllr Carl Benfield expressed his growing frustration at the County Council leader, saying: 'You knew you were coming to a meeting where you were going to be quizzed on this and you've bought nothing. Your explanation at the beginning [of the meeting] was woeful, it was garble. You've given no detail of the project, we don't know what's going to happen in December – I'm flabbergasted frankly.' 

Cllr Benefield was not the only Councillor to speak out against Cllr Harrison's statements, with Cllr Pejman Zamani getting into a heated argument with Harrison. 

There was criticism from the County Council's handling of the footpath closure from multiple councillors. 

Cllr Digby spoke out about the handling of the initial closure, saying 'the temporary closure went through without the proper paperwork,' and Cllr Zamani saying it was not the Town, District or County Council's problem to solve the issues with Wainwright's Yard as the footpath was there before they were. 

Cllr Zamani said: 'Send your enforcement officers there and open the footpath because it's been shut illegally.' 

Overall, no real clear answers were provided during the meeting over when residents can expect the footpath to reopen. The Town Council said they would be writing again to Leicestershire County Council about the issue to try and start moving forward.