A HANDFUL of Valentine ratepayers feel their suburb has been neglected by Lake Macquarie council.
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Cracked footpaths, potholes and a lack of pedestrian crossings head a list of their concerns.
Residents have also gone without public toilets in the main street, Allambee Place, for more than six months.
The toilets behind Valentine Progress Association Hall were demolished last December under renovation plans for the hall.
Construction on new amenities at Allambee Park only started last week.
The council had initially promised the toilets would be built ahead of Valentine Lions Club's Anzac memorial service two months ago.
Resident Roald Dillow, 84, said the council's inaction across the suburb was disappointing.
"They [the council] don't worry about anyone out here," he said.
"It's not good enough."
The latest cause for concern is uneven footpaths at Allambee Gardens Reserve. They are overgrown with weeds sprouting out of deep cracks.
The reserve is central to Valentine; its paths lead in several directions, including to shops and cafes in Allambee Place and Valentine Public School.
Mr Dillow walks through the reserve to get to the shops.
He said the footpaths were a trip hazard for those on walking sticks like himself, and mothers with prams and young children.
Mr Dillow lodged a service request with Lake Macquarie council last September to have the footpaths resealed.
Three months later, in December, he received a letter from the council's asset management department.
"An inspection was undertaken and a request has been forwarded to CiviLake [council's maintenance contractor] for the asphalt footpath through the reserve at Jackson Lane, Valentine to be resealed... in the new year [2015]," the letter read.
However, a council statement said the project's priority was low.
"Upon investigation by council staff, the footpath was found to have no trip hazards and deemed only to require minor remedial works, and as such wasn't given a higher priority over more urgent type asphalt works," it said.
The statement said council maintenance crews had been preoccupied with city-wide green waste clean-up in the aftermath of the April superstorms.
It said council crews would return to routine maintenance activities, including completing service requests, in the coming weeks.