The following is an interesting article recently received from a contributor who prefers to remain anonymous. It no doubt reflects the views of many of our supporters:
“Over the recent months of attempting to carry on with life under the dark cloud of Covid19 we have all learnt that there are sacrifices that we must make for the greater good of the community. The great British public have rallied to the cause and, in the main, accepted the restrictions to the conduct of their daily lives.
My fear is that we are being forced to accept a number of limitations to our freedoms that are not justified by the Covid crisis but are being implemented without care or consultation.
I am specifically concerned about the redistribution of the road space in favour of pedestrians and cyclists and against the interests of other road users be they private motorists, commercial users or those on public transport.
The widening of payments and cycle lanes, the closures to facilitate pavement restaurants, and, worst of all, the closure of many routes through suburban areas all come at a cost. There is more congestion and hence more pollution and longer journey times consuming more fuel and adding to the burden of private citizen and business operation alike.
Anyone who has tried to get a response from a local council over the last few months will be familiar with the refrain that “Due to Covid 19 there are restrictions on staffing and many services may take longer to implement”. Given that councils are unable to provide basic and urgent care and support services it is a miracle that they are somehow able to create road closures complete with blooming planters overnight!
Perhaps we should question our representatives about what their priorities are.
A cynical person might suspect that they are diverting the few available resources they have to these road closure schemes because the current Covid 19 regulations allow them to introduce them with little or no consultation. It is quite clear that many of these schemes have been ill thought out and are causing chaos. This is hardly surprising given that so little thought has gone in to considering the consequences on neighbouring streets. My only thought is that what the council can put in place overnight residents could remove in the same timescale.
This is only one part of the concerted effort to bully and demonise the motorist. It is said that there should be no taxation without representation and maybe this is a lesson that the motoring public can learn. If the available road space is to be redistributed in favour of pedestrians and cyclist then the burden of tax should move in the same direction. That motorists are treated as cash cows and required to pay more and more for less and less is nothing short of a scandal that will eventually lead to acts of civil disobedience”
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Wandsworth Road Closures
On the subject of road closures, the following is a note recently received on a demonstration against them in Wandsworth on the 12thSeptember:
“The onewandsworth group are arranging a peaceful socially distant protest, details can be found below
https://onewandsworth.org/the-protest
Also please sign the Wandsworth Council petition. Every signature helps:
Roger Lawson
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Drivers_London
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