Hello list, I am hoping that someone with a knowledge of local government can answer a query that has puzzled me for many years . The Mariners Cottages were built on either side of Broughton Road in the mid 1800s , and until around 1962 the section of roadway running between the two groups of cottages was unsealed ---I think the surface was gravel ( I still have the scars on my knees from skidding on my bike when I was a schoolboy ). The road surface of the rest of Broughton Road ( and every other street in South Shields that I know of ) was finished with either bitumen or concrete , so I have always wondered why was this one section unfinished ?? I imagine it has something to do with the cottages, but it seems so strange that one short one hundred metre stretch in the middle of a fully developed built up area should be unsealed -- and I think there was a perfectly normal pedestrian pavement on each side of the road , which I presume was maintained by the local authority . Does anyone have an answer ?? Gordon Wright Perth , Western Australia