17 May 2021 Lynne Pamela Lawrence · Prevention of Future Deaths report Gwent
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Concerns raised 1 Uneven pedestrian pavement View source
Actions described in response An action is something this recipient says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised. 3
Action
Train and accredit highway inspectors to assess public highway condition at specified competency levels.
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Action
Implement asset hierarchies, inspection frequencies and repair regimes for managing highway and footway maintenance.
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Action
Adopt risk-based highway service levels informed by the national code and CSSW principles, exceeding national minimum safety and maintenance intervention standards.
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AI-generated summary
Lynne Pamela Lawrence · Prevention of Future Deaths report
This summary was generated using AI from the published report. Please read the original report for the complete account.
Report summary
Lynne Lawrence tripped on an uneven pavement on 21 September 2020 and sustained a head injury that was not initially diagnosed on scan. She later collapsed, suffered an intracerebral haemorrhage worsened by warfarin, and died in hospital on 23 September 2020; the report raised concern about the condition of the pavement and potential risks to people, especially those with reduced mobility.
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× Source evidence
How this individual concern was interpreted PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the report wording shown below. The report was sent to Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council; that does not assign responsibility.
PFD Monitor interpretation Uneven pedestrian pavement
Wider context from the report “1. Condition of Pavement on
At the time of her fall, Mrs Lawrence was walking along a narrow pedestrian pavement near ████████, Alma Street, Brynmawr, Newport, NP23. The video footage available to me at the inquest demonstrated that the pavement was uneven . Whilst I could not conclude that it was the unevenness of the pavement that caused Mrs Lawrence to fall, nonetheless I consider that this is a factor which could people's lives at risk in the future, especially the elderly with reduced mobility .
” Open source report
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Source evidence
How this respondent action was interpreted
PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.
PFD Monitor interpretation Train and accredit highway inspectors to assess public highway condition at specified competency levels.
Verbatim wording from the response “The Highway Authority deploys Highway Inspector’s to undertake a regime of inspections to monitor the condition and repair needs of the public highway, they have received and passed accredited training programmes for specific competency levels to allow them to assess the condition of the public highway.” Source location 2021-0158-Response-from-Blaenau-Gwent-County-Borough-Council-Redacted
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Source evidence
How this respondent action was interpreted
PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.
PFD Monitor interpretation Implement asset hierarchies, inspection frequencies and repair regimes for managing highway and footway maintenance.
Verbatim wording from the response “Details of asset hierarchy, inspection and repair regimes are adopted by the Council and implemented. For the purpose of managing maintenance Councils allocate a hierarchy level to each road and footway to establish inspection frequencies and repair regimes. The most significant factor affecting the risk presented to users is the level of use. As no footfall data is available in many situations across the council, officer judgement is used to estimate footfall for different footways in order to apply the CSSW principles.” Source location 2021-0158-Response-from-Blaenau-Gwent-County-Borough-Council-Redacted
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Source evidence
How this respondent action was interpreted
PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.
PFD Monitor interpretation Adopt risk-based highway service levels informed by the national code and CSSW principles, exceeding national minimum safety and maintenance intervention standards.
Verbatim wording from the response “To assist authorities in meeting their duties National Guidance is provided and the methods adopted are based upon the contents of the following “Well-Managed Highway Infrastructure: A Code of Practice (CoP), UK Roads Liaison Group, 2016”. The Code is designed to promote the adoption of an integrated asset management approach to highway infrastructure based on the establishment of local levels through risk-based assessment. The Authority have developed their own levels of service based on the above Code, along with adopting the County Surveyors” Source location 2021-0158-Response-from-Blaenau-Gwent-County-Borough-Council-Redacted
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Source evidence
How this respondent position was interpreted
PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.
PFD Monitor interpretation The raised paving is below the intervention threshold and is not considered a risk to highway users.
Verbatim wording from the response “Highway Inspections prior to the accident in July 2020 and post accident in January 2021 have not identified defects approaching this standard >25mm. A further assessment on receipt of the Regulation 28 report has been undertaken and although the footway reconstruction has raised paving <16mm (photo’s attached) they are not at a standard that the Highway Authority would intervene or consider a risk to highway user and as such there are no proposals for BGBCBC Highway Authority to take remedial works actions at this location.” Source location 2021-0158-Response-from-Blaenau-Gwent-County-Borough-Council-Redacted
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Source evidence
How this respondent position was interpreted
PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.
PFD Monitor interpretation Existing risk-based inspection and repair standards are considered sufficient, so no remedial works are proposed at this location.
Verbatim wording from the response “Highway Inspections prior to the accident in July 2020 and post accident in January 2021 have not identified defects approaching this standard >25mm. A further assessment on receipt of the Regulation 28 report has been undertaken and although the footway reconstruction has raised paving <16mm (photo’s attached) they are not at a standard that the Highway Authority would intervene or consider a risk to highway user and as such there are no proposals for BGBCBC Highway Authority to take remedial works actions at this location.” Source location 2021-0158-Response-from-Blaenau-Gwent-County-Borough-Council-Redacted
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Information checked against published PFD reports and official responses · Data reviewed 7 Sep 2026 · About data quality and limitations