A NORTH Bendigo path is dangerous and must be fixed before someone is badly hurt, residents say.
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Fourteen residents want a new surface on the walking path through Hustlers Reef Reserve after a local slipped and fell.
The man was walking his dog in the area and slipped on a section of the path, member of the public Aldo Penbrook said.
"[They] suffered bruising and chest pains that lasted three days," he said in a petition calling for action from the City of Greater Bendigo.
"Fortunately for council, [the man] has decided not to sue."
Greater Bendigo councillors will consider the petition when they meet on Monday night.
Mr Penbrook told the Bendigo Advertiser that the path includes several steep sections and not everyone could confidently access it.
The injured man regularly used the path and slipped on an eroded section, Mr Penbrook said.
"I've had a bit to do with the reserve for the last 20 years and erosion has always been a problem," he said.
"The area is being promoted to tourists and it certainly has visitor potential, so that health and safety element is really important."
The reserve showcases Bendigo's mining history and commemorates Bendigo's worst mining accident. Seven miners were killed in a 1914 explosion more than 300 metres underground.
Mr Penbrook wanted further changes to the path itself to help showcase the area's cultural significance.
That could include more signage and a path that wends its way through the reserve, rather than cutting straight through.
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The council should lay down a polymer surface with a colour sympathetic to the heritage values of the area, Mr Penbrook said.
Petitioners said their least preferred option would be a concrete pathway.
"The raised edges of a concrete path pose an additional safety hazard for visitors ... [and] will not be sympathetic to the heritage values of the reserve," they told the council.
The petitioners also wanted the council to create a maintenance program for the path.
They said that previous site manages had regularly graded the path.
That ceased in 2004 when the council took over, petitioners said.
Councillors will be asked to formally accept the petition on Monday and ask city officers to prepare a response within two months.
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