READERS' VIEWS 23/4

24 June 2009

Shoppers will just go elsewhere

I WAS interested to read the article recently of the plans for pedestrianisation in the town centre.
It's fine making all these streets traffic free to attract more people but how are they all going to get there? It is fine allowing traffic including buses to travel both ways down Regent Street and Albert Street, but it will be a nightmare try to cross the road. Are the buses going to be able to stop and let people off? Who will want to shop there with traffic going up and down? There will be no room for car parking in those streets, what a complete waste of money that was putting in parking meters.
There are traffic issues on North Street with the taxis and buses pulling in and out, but without them you will have no shoppers. Lots of people already go out of town to shop, this will encourage more to folllow. I trust the planners are not going to move the bus stop outside HSBC?
It is strange that money can be found to start this work straight away as happened with the crossings and some of the bus stops. Wouldn't it be more sensible to wait until the Western Relief Road is finished and see how this affects the traffic?
Jean Taylor, Via email

People need convincing

JOHN Whitehead is concerned that few find favour with wind farms - Observer letters, April 9.
I believe there are three main reasons for this. First and foremost people generally are not convinced that they will have any significant effect on the climate; secondly it is fairly obvious that wind power is not a reliable source; and third the cost of the subsidies, which is probably what really motivates those in the business.
A wind farm installed here or there will be insignificant in relation to the total demand for electricity. We should be far more concerned with the delays in building new base-load stations to replace those which are due to be decommissioned.
The government has belatedly decided we need to build replacement nuclear stations, but sadly the engineering expertise gained from the early 50s has been lost. This means we will require considerable help from France, which has a significant nuclear industry and already supplies power to our grid on a daily basis.
The need to reduce the variation between day and night demand is a most important aspect of electricity supply. (See the National Grid website for relevant graphs). A cheaper night rate helps, but doesn’t go far enough. Tackling this seriously could have a far greater effect than fiddling with renewables.
Finally a catastrophic collapse of the planet when the continents all collide with one another is forecast to be about 20million years away.
Tony Malin, Via email

Crossing is indefensible

REGARDING the insanely located new pedestrian crossing on Newbold Road, people's objections are not to the provision of a pedestrian crossing per se, but to the fact that it has been located far too close to the roundabout.
The misery now being caused to hard working motorists trying to get to and from work could all have been avoided if the new crossing had been located a reasonable distance from the roundabout.
The crossing is within five car lengths of the roundabout. This means that every time the lights go red the traffic backs up onto the roundabout causing the roundabout to be completely blocked. This is creating complete chaos not only on the roundabout but also on Corporation Street and Oliver Street.
Those who try to defend the location of this crossing are trying to defend the indefensible. There is no justification whatsoever for locating a pedestrian crossing in such an insane position. Prior to the new crossing being installed the traffic on Corporation Street was typically queueing from the fire station onwards during the morning traffic. Now, thanks to the new crossing, the traffic is often queueing all the way back to the gyratory system and even causing problems on the gyratory system. These are indisputable facts.
The pedestrian crossing near the police station could have been moved say 25 metres north. At that location people could cross the road safely within a reasonable distance of Oliver Street without the traffic backing up onto the roundabout and causing traffic chaos every time the lights are on red. It really is as simple as that.
In its current position, far from being an aid to safety for pedestrians, the new crossing is in fact a safety hazard. Its location means that it may not be noticed until it is too late by motorists who are unaware that a pedestrian crossing has been put in such an insane location. In the interests of safety and common sense, this new crossing must be removed as soon as possible of this madness.
Brian Wainright, Shakespeare Gardens, Rugby

Turnout was a shame

I WOULD just like to thank Peter Bullard and the Rugby Borough Council for helping to stage a quite superb Night At The Opera concert at Rugby Theatre on Sunday evening.
Three very talented musicians from the CBSO entertained an audience of about 100 with a varied, popular and enjoyable programme, demonstrating skill, amazing musical talent, and great wit, for over two hours.
The pianist, cellist and soprano all gave polished and well chosen performances throughout. What a pity more of Rugby's population could not have attended as I'm sure they cannot have heard better musicians in our town for many a moon.
Bob and Judy Bradbrook, Orson Leys, Rugby

Bring back traffic police

IN ADDITION to the letter by Mr Fox - Speeding is not the big problem, Observer letters, April 9 - I have established that in this time of financial hardship Warwickshire County Council has spent approximately £1.2million in new speed limit signs in the county as a result of these changes.
The changes were implemented after 'an extensive consultation process and 1,000 comments'. Whilst road safety is paramount, I do wonder how these new limits are going to be enforced with no traffic/roads policing department?
Safer Neighbourhoods were the priority of the Government and as a result this saw the roads policing department exterminated. (o we not have roads in our neighbourhoods and when was the last time you saw a traffic police officer?
You can have as many laws as you want, but without enforcement they are useless, so I can only assume this means more cameras. Allegedly, there is no truth in the rumour that cameras will be hidden.
I have to question: If some roads are so dangerous as to warrant a speed reduction from the national speed limit of 60mph to 50mph then why not do the job correctly and take them down to 30mph? We have all seen the warnings on TV.
After all, the enforcement and subsequent penalty is going to be the same in whatever form it takes. It also reduces the risk of another £1.2million being spent in a couple of years time when the next reduction in speed limits is introduced via the back door.
Name and address supplied

Park is no longer fun for toddlers

I'M WRITING in reference to the recent improvements made to Caldecott Park.
Like many other people I think that it's looking really pretty. However, also like many other people I'm concerned about the new play areas and the effect they are having.
It has been commented that 'yobs' are now frequenting the new play area, intimidating other park goers and trampling over the plants. I believe that it is down to the planning that went into constructing the children's play areas in the park which is causing this to happen thereby shunning younger families.
By introducing the new, modern play area which was evidently built for older children, those responsible for building it have also made it impossible for younger children and toddlers to play there due to: 1) being intimidated by teenagers and much older school children in out of school hours and 2) being unable to play on the equipment as it is so large and unsafe.
As a mother of a two-year-old I used to frequent the park with my son and his friends. Like all other young parents in the area I eagerly awaited the new playground, having seen lots of brilliantly planned new parks in areas all over the Midlands. When the large play area was built and I discovered that there was nowhere for children from one to three years to play safely without being closely supervised by an adult.
I was doubly excited to see how the new toddler area would turn out. Along with other young parents, I am utterly disappointed with the result. Caldecott Park now offers nowhere fun and exciting for our toddlers and young children to play. How many children of that age will spend hours sitting in a stationary train? How many days of the year will the sandpit and water feature actually be useful for? What research was done into the needs and requirements of children of that age when building the play area?
There are no swings, no slides, no safe climbing frames, no rocking horses or safe seesaws. My son and his friends lasted all of seven minutes in the toddler area the other day before they were bored and wanted to go and play on swings and slides, so we had to go further afield to find a decent park for them to play in. What is the council going to do to rectify this problem?
Surely they can't justify taking away a perfectly working children's play area, spending over a £1million and leaving us with nowhere for young children to play. They've found a way to attract older children to the top end of the the park, please give us a couple of swings and a slide at the very least to attract our young children to play at the other end.
Failing that, can they at least add a few toddler friendly swings and add a ladder to the slide in the large play area so that our toddlers can at least play there when the older children are in school.
Does anyone else share the same views? If so there is an online petition at http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/caldecott-park.html
Name supplied, Park Road, Rugby

Baffled by the new lights

ME and your other readers, who are long suffering council tax payers, would like to know the reason why a pedestrian crossing has been constructed two thirds of the way up Ashlawn Road, which is nowhere near any residential properties.
If it had been installed nearer the school or even by the Sainburys island I would have seen more sense in it. I and others that have seen it are in disbelief that the amount of money that has been wasted on placing the crossing where it is.
S Poole, Hillmorton Road, Rugby

Government deserves to get the boot

I SEE in newspaper articles that Harriet Harman MP is worried about the British National Party making inroads at the forthcoming local and European elections, especially in Rugby and the Midlands area.
Is it any real surprise that people are changing their voting patterns when Ms Harman and the present Government have bankrupted the country financially, socially and morally?
John Beck, Finmere, Brownsover

Delighted at scrapping charges

AFTER three years of campaigning we are delighted the Government has listened to us and abolished prescription charges for cancer patients from this month.
This was absolutely the right thing to do as cancer not only threatens your life, but can also make you poor. Free prescriptions will transform the lives of thousands of people living with cancer who were struggling to pay for drugs.
All cancer patients are now entitled to apply for a five-year exemption certificate, which will entitle them to all their NHS prescriptions free of charge, not just those relating to cancer. These certificates can be used from April 1. This covers those who need prescriptions for the treatment for cancer, the effects of cancer, or the effects of cancer treatment. The certificate can be renewed as many times as necessary.
To get your application form please visit your GP or oncology clinic. And if you have already paid for an annual pre-payment certificate, you can get a refund for the months after April.
We simply could not have achieved this without your help, so thank you again to all those who helped Macmillan campaign effectively and make a huge difference to the lives of those living with cancer and those people it may affect in the future.
Gillian Lord, General manager, Macmillan Cancer Support

Bin system is bery 18th century

I COULD use a little guidance. Not having been born in the 18 century I have little experience of rural day to day life on a farm.
Having just received my grey plastic slop bucket from the council, I have to confess that I posses little need to feed livestock with scraps of waste food on my property, in fact I don’t even have any cattle living in the lower floor of my humble dwelling in the winter months, which makes the council's latest attempt to drag Rugby back to a bygone age of typhoid and rickets a bit of a non starter in our house.
I know they mean well, but when are they going to grow up and stop producing ever more bizarre schemes involving a different coloured plastic bucket for every piece of refuse imaginable, it’s like Blue Peter down the council house these days.
They must recognise the fact that we as a community are going through the same financial hardships that the rest of the world is experiencing, and we can no more afford this latest silly indulgence with council plastic container policy than we can the prospect of two collections a week just to separate refuse into heaps of recycled material with little market value.
I feel sure that any day now a little boy will be heard to shout that the King is in the all together! Until that day, I will sit by the door waiting for my council issue night soil toilet to arrive.
G C Prewett, Railway Street, Long Lawford

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