Problems with a flooding footpath and cycleway have still not been solved five months after Kent County Council said it would look into the issue.

The towpath, which is part of the Barming to Aylesford River Medway Cycle Path that was created at a cost of £1.8m, is constantly covered with water for a stretch of around 50m near the bottom of Unicumes Lane in Fant, Maidstone.

Alan Newman, a sports coach who lives in nearby Clifford Way, said: “A lot of people, myself included, like to run or cycle along this towpath, but it’s no fun splashing through the flooded area.

“What’s worse, now it is winter, the water will freeze and become positively dangerous – it did freeze over in that particularly cold spell we had a week or so ago.”

Mr Newman initially could not get any authority to take responsibility for the problem. He tried the Environment Agency, Network Rail, KCC and Maidstone Borough Council.

And following a story on KentOnline in June, KCC said it would look into the matter.

Initially, the problem appeared to be caused by a blocked culvert that should have been draining a pond part the way up Unicumes Lane.

Water was overflowing and running down the lane, under the railway bridge, across the footpath and into the river.

Mr Newman said: “KCC has been out and done some clearance work on the pond and that has stopped water running down Unicumes Lane.

“But for some reason, it is now appearing from the bank beside the footpath where there’s a pool covered in green moss. An area about 50m long is still flooding.”

Emma Burdett is KCC’s land drainage engineer.

She said: “There have been some delays to programming works due to property flooding during the recent wet weather and the crews are prioritised to attend locations that cause immediate danger or where property is internally flooding.

“A member of our highways team did attend in October to rod through the culvert and got it partially flowing again which reduced the water overtopping the pond, but we have also identified a section on the other side of the railway bridge that appears to be contributing to the flooding on the towpath.”

“I am trying to get Network Rail to assess this and they have been working with our operations team to find a resolution.

“As this is all private land and not owned by KCC this could take a while and I do not think that clearing the pond will completely resolve the issue while there is water cascading down from the railway land.”

Mr Newman, who won the Kent M70 Cross Country Championship title in Dartford two weeks ago, regularly trains on the path with members of the Lockmeadow Health Club running group.

He said: “I am very grateful to Mrs Burdett.

“She is the only one at any of the authorities who has tried to address the matter, but I really had hoped this would have been solved before the winter sets in and the lane is turned into an ice-rink.”