Personal reflections of activity performed by the author, Steve Kidd, concerning a poor traffic system (Town End Traffic Lights, "Jenkin's Folly"), installed and maintained by Wakefield Metropolitan District Council ("Wakefield Met", "WMDC" or "Newton Bar") in the town of Pontefract, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Last Update: 3rd August 2010
My brother, Chris, walked past Town End Traffic Lights and spotted me slackening some bolts on a traffic sign, in order that I might drop it down to ground level, to enable my kids and other pedestrians to watch oncoming traffic whilst crossing the road at said location. He got stiff, and I asked what I was meant to do. He said "You can write". Well, I've just about been doing that ever since, but this diary will try to address what has happened with me and Town End Traffic Lights in Pontefract. Everybody with a brain cell hates this set-up, but I never realized how bad it was untill I decided to get a degree in Transport.
First off I had to go to Wakefield College to get an "Access" qualification.
At the end of my Access course we had to do a project and I decided to do "The Town End Traffic Lights and Road Safety in Pontefract". It was an eye opener. I had expected to see a decrease in accidents/casualties at Town end and a slight increase in other locations around town. What I found was an increase in casualties at the location and a massive hike in casualty costs of over a million quid a year in the nine square kilometers of Pontefract that I had selected as the study area. To put that into perspective, at the time this was like an extra death a year, like having a patient serial killer at large in my town. There was an incredible amount of other frustrating shit surrounding the lights, for instance it could take as long as six and a half minutes to traverse 15 metres as a pedestrian, that a class of infants had to be split up to cross the road, that traffic jams appeared a mile away where there was none before, that everybody whinged about how bad the arrangements were. The pelican crossing buttons had no effect whatsoever – what an insult, yet I was not concerned, ostensibly, with congestion, pollution or blight; my report just looked at injuries, and in the words of Wakefield Met's Road Safety Officer the evidence was "pretty damning". I alerted all local councillors, our MP and officers, but nothing was done. Why did I not try harder? I should have done, but given the scale of the sample I had reviewed, and the somewhat random distribution of accidents, I calculated that there was about a one in a hundred chance that the Pontefract Killer was just a function of luck. A bit like calling 7 coin tosses correctly in a row. Kind of very unusual but statistically possible. Nevertheless it was dissapointing that nothing was done, and that the only thing to come out of Newton Bar (WMDC's Highway department) was a four page report labelled "Confidential". Naturally it was a load of bollocks, but I had been lucky enough to get a place at Leeds University and had other fish to fry.
I got my degree, during which I learned nothing that might indicate that my suspicions had been wrong. I went to Sheffield to do a PhD, but did not like it. I attempted, in the small claims court, to claim compesation from WMDC regarding the excess travel time my children had had to endure on the way to school, but that was unsuccessfull in that Wakefield's defence,
| "that it under no statutory or specific duty to ensure that the Claimants are able to cross the Town End Junction within any specific time" |
was accepted by the judge. (Nice to know we have a bunch of wankers in charge of transport at Wakefield who do not give a toss about making someone wait six and a half minutes to perform a 10 second journey)
I dabbled in a couple of quizzes, but by
was a man of liesure again, and on tidying my web sites up realised that I was being slightly lax in my social obligations.
Earlier on in the year my interest had been piqued during the local elections, when a candidate, Geoff Walsh, knocked on my door canvassing. Naturally I invited the poor bugger in for some earache and he gave the impression of being a lovely, concerned, attentive and perceptive man (obviously not been in politics too long!). He also must have took on board something because a few weeks later whilst I was travelling up the A1 near Alnwick the phone went. With a burger in one hand and a cup of tea in the other I always find it a seductive challenge to tuck the mobile under my ear to answer it and stay on the carriageway. It was Geoff to tell me he had got in. Now let me tell you, Pontefract is not the kind of place where someone of Geoff's political persuasions generally gets in, but he did - by 42 votes.
If someone made me the offer of saving somebody's life, and all I had to do was spend a few weeks writing, standing like a jerk in the middle of Pontefract and handing leaflets out, listening to the occasional idiotic member of the public who thinks that 2 million quid a year in casualty costs is a good thing, having to tolerate a hedgehog defence from Transport Planners far more adept at prevarication, spin and self preservation than promoting public welfare, for no reward or recognition for myself, the answer would be "pass me my flourescent coat". Of COURSE I WOULD. So here I am.
Organize! After discussing it with Geoff Walsh over the phone, I arranged a presentation evening at fairly short notice. I also decided to invite the public, so placed this notice on some of my web-pages (like people read them!)
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Town End Traffic Lights
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I was going to do an A4 flyer inviting people to the meeting on Wednesday, but I decided on an A5 one just like this
Got them from Peter at Carter and Jackson printers, South Bailygate, Pontefract (01977 701231). They need a web site but boy, they don't need any tips on either printing or awesomeness. The gear was ready inside an hour, the price was right, and I was posting them through letterboxes at Town End straight up. Took a couple of photos and then instead of leafleting Mayors Walk, decided to see how far the Traffic Jam Extended (at 2 o'clock in the afternoon). Listen, I know full well I should not feel smug, but when I had to go into the open countryside to find the end of the queue, I can't help thinking that something is seriously wrong.
General View of Town End Traffic Lights,Pontefrract, From Mill Hill, Looking North
Near The King's School
Near The Carleton Hotel
Deep Space 9 - Welcome to Pontefract!
I took some leaflets into town to hand out to people. I could never be a politician. Between 9:15 and 12 o'clock I must have handed out a few hundred. I just hate it when people refuse without seeing what it is. The way I look at it is, the accident rate in Ponty costs each man woman and child £60 per year each, and I'm doing this to enrichen their lives at no profit to myself. I think two people refused to take one outright, I offered one of them a twenty pound note and he refused which I guess means that some people are total retards no matter what you try and do for them.
Of course, the vast majority of people were incredibly supportive. Weird but after many hours of intensive study on my part, many sum up the situation quite succinctly in only two seconds- “It was better before”. There was one chap who said things were safer! I really don't know where he got that idea, but I guess it means that some people just believe what they want to believe and there ain't nuthin' that you can do aboot it.
A quite serendipitous part of the morning was calling at Pontefract Library at 9:30 where the local councillors were having their surgeries. Lo and behold! Councillors Pat Garbutt, Trevor Izon and Jack Kershaw were all sat round a table waiting for customers, so I enjoyed ten minutes with them preambling Wednesday's meeting. Clive Tennant joined us as well, and they all said they would come on Wednesday, albeit Trevor Izon said he might be a little late if at all. I have to say that they are all very good at the inter-personal stuff, I can't help but like them when I walk away, but I only hope that they can do the right thing.
Dropped some leaflets off at a few cafés, It was especially good to see an old friend, Ian Clayton with his son Edward and generally have a nice morning talking to people, including Brian Chappell, who has been an advocate of the traffic lights, and with whom I have lost my temper in the past. He didn't seem interested in Town End any more. I must not try to lose my temper with people, 'cos often they mean well, sometimes they might be just apprehensive, and pretty much always they have some good in them, and there are more important things to concern oneself with
In addition, I must not get sidetracked from the issues with which I am concerned. It is not to do with anything apart from Town End Lights, but I am sure that for various reasons people will try to hijack the campaign. I will try and steer things in the right direction.
This morning kind of crystallised three things:
In the afternoon went for a fabulous day out with the kids. Pontefract Park, where I naturally dished out a couple of flyers, and then MacDonald's, but only after Graham, Julia and Ella promised to post some more. We did Mill Hill Avenue, then Highfield Road, then Graham and I leafleted the three petrol stations in Pontefract and three taxi firms.
If wishes were horses. The depth of feeling I encounter is very 'encouraging' and if I could transfer people's feelings about Town End into votes I would have a 90% majority at the next election. I don't want that, I just want Pontefract to be a safer place, and right now I think there is a 25% chance of me making it so by getting rid of those stupid traffic lights.
Spent a great deal of time writing this up and getting the presentation ready for Wednesday. I took away the figures for 2005 'cos sometghing gave me the impression they were not complete. It was neater in that the four years figures I have for pre 1996 double up for 'predicting' the eight years after. It is also 'nice in that we have a higher post-Folly casualty cost, but really I am not after spin, just facts, so I should not consider that advantageous. Considering the reticence and lies on the part of WMDC, it is probably not a bad thing to colour things a deeper shade, just to redress a little balance. Whatever.
Went down to Town End and distributed leaflets to drivers coming down Mill Hill. Must have got about 40% of them. Crikey it's dickish, but if I don't do it who else will? Got bought out a lovely cup of tea and got a lot of encouragement.
Took some timings (It takes more than four minutes to cross direct from the Robin Hood to the Valley Gardens, a distance of 40 meters, bleedin' continents move faster) re-affirmed that the buttons on the pelican crossings have no effect whatsoever, and took a 'photo of the trashed sign, which was the one I originally wanted to take down. Turned into a game, after photographing a nearby sign. Have a go - You may enjoy it! Click below.
Spent the morning finishing off the leaflet drop for tomorrow's presentation, by standing on Wakefield Road outside the hairdressers. Didn't get any propositions. As of 9:30 there was nothing else I could do apart from keep my fingers crossed and hope that someone would turn up tomorrow. Marcus asked how many would turn up. I put the spread between 30 and 60.
Did an interview for Radio Leeds with Layla & Oliver, but forgot to tape it – life is just a succession of disasters
Set the stuff up at 3 o'clock for today's presentation at St Mary's Hall Chequerfield, which is a fine building and probably cost a tenth of what the people of Chequerfield have paid in lottery tickets (cynical? moi??). My daughter turned up at 5:30 and was told by the caretaker that there was no meeting – damn. There was ( A meeting) at six, and my spread was good. 48 people (I think), turned up, including all local members and most prospective candidates for the next local election. I think I conducted myself OK, chewed my glasses too much, and didn't shout in temper! If I do regret one thing it was not dealing with the issues of proscribed finances properly (i.e. Wakefield met are only given x to spend on transport). I did point out that our local MP Yvette Cooper is married to nearby Normanton's MP, Ed Balls, who has been described as Gordon Brown's best mate and will probably be Chancellor of the Exchequer himself, but more importantly, I mean, how much does it actually cost to flick a switch?
If anybody chances upon this on t'internet and came to the meeting, thank you so much
Having recieved a letter from Bill O'Brien, managed to send a reply, enclosing a copy of Highways Economic Note No 1 (which hass just been updated, therbye increasing costs) and a copy of this article from the Times (I have filched it, I hope Rupert Murdoch doesn't mind too much):
The Times, January 22, 2007 'Naked' streets are safer, say ToriesBEN WEBSTER - TRANSPORT CORRESPONDENT
Traffic lights, road signs and white lines would be removed from many high streets across the country under Conservative proposals to improve safety and reduce congestion by giving drivers and pedestrians equal status. Road humps, chicanes and other physical measures designed to reduce the speed of vehicles would be removed and the question of who had priority would be left open deliberately, making drivers more cautious. The Conservatives are planning to publish a “green paper” on roads this year which will borrow heavily from so-called shared-space schemes in the Netherlands, where pedestrians, cyclists and cars are encouraged to mingle. Kerbs in several Dutch towns have been removed and the boundaries between the pavement and road blurred deliberately to prevent people from assuming they have right of way. Traffic lights have been uprooted and drivers must negotiate their way across junctions, forcing them to slow down and establish eye contact with pedestrians. In the town of Drachten, the removal of traffic lights at one major junction has resulted in accidents falling from thirty-six in the four years before the scheme was introduced to two in the next two years. The average time for each vehicle to cross the junction fell from 50 seconds to 30 seconds, despite a rise in the volume of traffic. Owen Paterson, the Shadow Transport Minister, visited Drachten and other Dutch towns. He told The Times: “There are some great ideas here which I would like to see in Britain. It’s the opposite of the 1960s ethos of separating cars and pedestrians. By removing road signs and traffic lights and changing the appearance of the road, you avoid the impression that areas are designated just for cars. “The idea is to create space where there is mild anxiety among everyone so they all behave cautiously. No one thunders along at 30mph on a high street thinking that they have priority.” Mr Paterson said that putting up more speed limit signs and painting more lines on the road had failed to make streets safer. “Instead of the State laying down the rules, we need to give responsibility back to road users. It’s about creating an environment where it just doesn’t feel right to drive faster than 20mph.” Some aspects of the shared space approach have already been adopted on London streets that have high numbers of pedestrians. At Seven Dials in Covent Garden, the road surface has been altered to give it the appearance of a pedestrian area and kerbs have been lowered to encourage people to wander across the street. In Kensington High Street, almost 600 metres of railings have been removed to allow pedestrians to cross where they want. The results have discredited the belief that railings prevent accidents: in the two years after they were removed, pedestrian casualties declined three times faster than the London average. Traffic engineers believe that drivers are now keeping a sharper eye out for pedestrians because they know that they may cross at any point. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is planning to introduce shared space ideas to Sloane Square next year. The aim is to encourage pedestrians to make greater use of the square, which is currently marooned by busy roads. A similar scheme is being planned for Exhibition Road.The idea of removing traffic lights was supported in a report published last month by the Institute of Economic Affairs. Martin Cassini, the report’s author, said: “Removing lights removes barriers to traffic flow and improves behaviour. If you observe a junction where the lights are out of action, there is rarely congestion. People approach slowly, wave each other on and filter in turn. Lights and other controls hamper instead of harness human nature, causing untold delay and harm.” |
Wrote and posted the following letter to the local paper, The Pontefract and Castleford Express
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Steve Kidd, etc.. Saturday, January 27, 2007
Town End Traffic Lights Since 1996 Pontefract has suffered an abnormal increase in traffic casualties. To put flesh on this statement; nationally, casualty costs have decreased by about about 12%, in Pontefract they have risen by 50%. To put flesh on the road, that is a cost of nearly 2 million pounds per year, or the equivalent of one casualty per week. (An “average” casualty has a “Value of prevention” cost of about forty five thousand pounds). Failing other evidence to the contrary, and considering the length of time and scale and consistency of the figures, it is time that we all accept beyond any significant doubt that without the Town End Traffic Lights, installed in 1996, we would be very much safer. I have only quantified casualties, and taken no account of other detrimental factors induced by the restructuring of that junction, but it is safe to assume costs of fuel, maintenance, and insurance are not reduced, whereas we have an increase in stress, noise, vibration, blight and pollution. All study indicates that the costs of congestion in any given urban traffic scenario exceed casualty costs by at least double and as much as six times, so it is not unreasonable to suppose costs of many more millions of pounds. If a Doctor had been responsible for such an increase in suffering he would be struck off. If a police officer had allowed a known serial killer to terrorize a town for ten years he would be held up to public ridicule and an ignominious end to his career. This is not a joke. Ten years ago there may have been valid arguments for not restructuring the junction in the way it was. Five years ago the evidence that it was a mistake was overwhelming. The continued maintenance is unjustifiable, and the defence of them morally reprehensible. It is rational to improve other people's lives if we can improve ours at the same time. I implore the general public to consider this issue as one which can be fixed quite easily, by ensuring our elected members (Councilors and MP) prioritize what is, in effect, a very simple issue. I beg our elected members to ensure that officers (Road traffic engineers for WMDC) acknowledge the facts, cease prevarication and either use the pre 1996 model for Town End (safer and faster) as a starting point for re-structuring, or to go and work for another authority. We don't want them. A report is at townend.htm Steve Kidd BA (Hons) Geography and Transport planning |
N.B. It was interesting to see that on the way to post the letter at Tea Time on Saturday, guess where we saw the traffic smash? (Town End traffic lights if you hadn't guessed)
Idiot! (Me).
Had a lovely round of golf but got rope-a-doped by a bloke in the clubhouse who told me I was wrong. He asked me at least ten questions without letting me answer, told me the arrangements were built for pedestrians. Told me things were safer and then told me, ignomony of all ignomonys, that I wasn't a pedestrian. At that I saw red! Despite me having an entire quiver full of arrows I got mad and shouted at him. In front of a stack of guys, who, allthough they all played golf with him, were probably on 'my' side. Moral of the story – Don't argue with stupid people, they bring you down to their level and beat you through experience. You know, what gets to me is we were'n't talking about where to drop a ball for relief from a path on the golf course – I was talking about an accident a week, massive casualties, overwhelming congestion, delay and pollution, and he didn't know what he was talking about, but I actually gave him the credit that he might do by trying to answer him. D-uh me. Make it a lesson.
Check out an imaginative and logically argued piece in the Times by Martin Cassini. The comments thread which follows it also make interesting reading. Many Thanks to Nick Clapham for bring these Times articles to my attention.
Amazing. After catching up on this diary, thought I would try and contact Martin Cassini, the author of this piece in the Telegraph and that which I referred to above. Spent just about the entire day talking on the 'phone with the man, exchanging emails and text messges. He is a genius, but one who is generous with his time and has a Betazoid level of empathy. He has generated an awful lot of response with his articles and writings and has made a great video about how crap traffic lights can be which you can see here.
He will be putting one on national TV, and I guess that Town End provides an ideal case study in terms of location, boundary, population and study. Pontefract will be famous, and to that end I am hopping on the train to King's Cross tomorrow morning and having lunch with the Gods!
Had a terrific day with Martin cassini in London, looking at stupid traffic lights where the traffic gets held up for no reason, where pedestrians are ignored by drivers bedazzled by furniture and where (surprise!) The pelican crossing buttons have no effect whatsoever. Crapped myself on the London eye and paid £4.50 for a tube ticket to Kings Cross from The Embankment. Rip off
Martin Cassini's London Office
Unbelievable - nothing in the Pontefract and Castleford Express. I hope they are saving the letter I sent (see above) for next week.
Had a long 'phone call with Beryl, who hates the lights more than I do (she has to live there). I feel so sorry for evrybody who has to put up with them, but I must admit, there is some anger in me that people stand by and let it happen. Well, at least now we have a message board so that people can agree with me (or disagree if they are stupid!). Check out Town End Forum
The message board/forum has been organised by a mate of mine, Will Jones, who is a flippin' genius and deserves the thanks of all Pomfretians - Thanks Will.
Registered on the forum, and it seems to work, It looks really lame when only Jake & me have our names up, but you have to start somewhere! I prepared a few postcards to advertise the forum, printing 4 to an A4 sheet. here is a link to a page where you can copy a sheet in pdf (reprint asn much as you like!), but the postcards looked like this:
A wierd, illuminating and rewarding day. Placed some blurbs around the websites to encourage people to go to the forum. In the afternoon I thought I would post a few postcards and really try to talk to people. It was cool as I would knock on the door, and the initial conversation would go something like this, starting with me
Are you intersted in double glazing?
No
Religion??
NO!
Town End Traffic Lights?
Please come in,we love you,sit down, make yourself comfortable, is your name spelt with a 'p h' so we can leave our estate to you?
OK, that might be a bit of a stretcher, but the depth of animosity which people near Town End have towards the lights is quite something. 100% approval and support, and everybody I spoke to said they would change their traditional political allegiance over the issue. I reckon we need three hundred to change a councillor and 3000 to change an MP. I took my time and must have spoke to 30 people yesterday. Do that 100 more times and that would be something. promised to stay off the PC yesterday, but couldn't resist when I got home to see that "Martin" was the first to post. I hope everybody else can be bothered with the rigmarole of enrollment. It would be nice if there was a way of indicating how many voters were represented by a particular account on the forum, as I know for sure that many houses had more than one voter who all disliked the lights. If you are registering, don't forget to tell me how many you represent.
I was priveleged to visit some fabulous houses and great people, so thanks to y'all, Vic and Rose your daughter will be fine and we will win, Mick, get on the net, cricket man, stay in for ever, Kathleen & John, you will open those windows, Susannah & Richard, thank you for saving my child, Phillip & Brenda, you have made the best sandwiches for years, and the world needs more people like you, and George Ward - You are the King of Pontefract and I am happy for you.
Love it!
Took a trip through Pontefract at 8:30 this morning and made a film. It took ten and a half minutes to do the 1 mile (1700 meter) trip through the lights from Hardwick Road Bridge. We hit the jam outside the Carleton Hotel after about 600 m so we are looking at about 6 mph average, even incorporating the free first part. Now if we could just travel at an average of 18 mph, that would be a seven minute saving. Woah! there are about 100 cars between the Carleton Hotel and Town End at that time, with a few more backed up down Ackworth Road. At 100 cars every ten minutes, that is 600 per hour all saving 7 minutes each equals 70 hours time wasted at £5 per hour times lets say only 12 hours a day (as opposed to 24) and times the four roads leading to the lights we may have a congestion cost of £17,000 per day or 6 million pounds per year! Further research required.
Got an interesting email from a geyser called Kenneth Todd (Check out one of his papers here) of the Cato Institute who collated this interesting list of quotes. It seems that Pontefract may not be unique in the failure of its traffic lights.
Are Traffic Signals Safety Devices?"The most misleading aspect regarding traffic control signals is the common belief belief that a traffic control signal is safer than other forms of intersection control. " Traffic Control Devices Handbook, FHWA, 2001, Chapter 10, page 263, d. "Since vehicle delay and accident frequency are sometimes greater under traffic signal control than under STOP sign control, consideration should be given to providing less restrictive alternatives to traffic signal control even if one or more of the warrants for traffic signal control has been satisfied" Manual on Uniform Traffic -Control Devices. 4B.04. FHWA, December 2000 "Signalized intersections accounted for 25.4% of all fatal intersection accidents, and for 37.4% of fatal accidents at urban intersections" Fatal Accident Reporting System, USDOT, 1991 "A good guide is to utilize the minimum degree of control. Signals should be used only when lesser forms of control will not suffice" LJ Pignataro .et al. Traffic Engineering: Theory and Practice. Prentice-Hall, 1972, 323. "40% of our intersection pedestrian accidents are at traffic signals, even though less than 2% of our intersections have signals. Total accidents generally increase after signalization in 8 out of 10 cases" Memo, Phoenix, AZ, Traffic Dept. May 1987 "Traffic signals generally increase road user costs and the overall accident rate, and adversely affect construction, maintenance and energy costs" Memo, Ohio DOT, April 1984 "In many cases, the most spectacular and damaging accidents occur at signalized intersections" Traffic Control Devices Handbook, FHWA, 1983 "There is a strong [statistical] indication that traffic signals are not a viable solution to the intersection accident problem" Traffic Signal Warrants, NCHRP #3-20, TRB, 1975 "Fallacy: traffic signals are safety devices. Fact: They actually increase accidents" M.N. Clyde, Traffic Engineering, Nov. 1964 "The common opinion of the general public that signals materially reduce the number of accidents is rarely substantiated by experience. Not infrequently there are more accidents with signals in operation than before" Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, sec. 3D-8, Bureau of Public Roads, 1961 "Where stop-and-go signals were installed, accidents increased nearly by one-fourth and during inclement weather fourfold" D. Solomon, Public Roads, Oct. 1959.) "Reliance on more restrictive traffic control devices to achieve greater pedestrian safety is not justified by statistics" H. Marks, Traffic Engineering, Oct. 1957 "A national study showed the frequency of fatalities at signalized intersections to be eight times greater than at intersections without controls" ”Traffic Signals for Regulation -- Not Safety Alone." American City, Feb. 1954.) "The signal salesman of the past offered the stop-go signal as a panacea for all traffic ills, and since safety was a condition sought by his customer, he labelled it a safety device. It is nothing more than a regulatory valve" J.C. Monagle, HRB Bulletin 74, 1953 "Accident risk to school children at signalized school crossings was three times as high as at unsignalized ones, with similar numbers of vehicles and school children crossing" Committee on Traffic Control at School Zones, HRB Proceedings, 1941 "Pedestrian accidents have not been reduced by the installation of signals" W.S. Canning, HRB Proceedings, 1934 "Signals did not improve safety but increased accidents" M. McClintock, NSC Proceedings, 1928 D. Solomon, Public Roads, Oct. 1959.) "Reliance on more restrictive traffic control devices to achieve greater pedestrian safety is not justified by statistics" H. Marks, Traffic Engineering, Oct. 1957 "A national study showed the frequency of fatalities at signalized intersections to be eight times greater than at intersections without controls" ”Traffic Signals for Regulation -- Not Safety Alone." American City, Feb. 1954.) "The signal salesman of the past offered the stop-go signal as a panacea for all traffic ills, and since safety was a condition sought by his customer, he labelled it a safety device. It is nothing more than a regulatory valve" J.C. Monagle, HRB Bulletin 74, 1953 "Accident risk to school children at signalized school crossings was three times as high as at unsignalized ones, with similar numbers of vehicles and school children crossing" Committee on Traffic Control at School Zones, HRB Proceedings, 1941 "Pedestrian accidents have not been reduced by the installation of signals" W.S. Canning, HRB Proceedings, 1934 "Signals did not improve safety but increased accidents" M. McClintock, NSC Proceedings, 1928 |
Went to Bournmouth, Brighton, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia & Montenegro,Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Italy & France with a folding bike to check it out.
Made a film -
Who knows where the time goes?
This particular entry has been inspired by Paul Cartwright, the secretary of Pontefract Civic Society, who has been kind enough to reply to an email and call I made to him concerning a potential trip to Drachten. I am moving in a months time down to Plymouth, and I really should let this go, but if I could persuade somebody to carry the baton, it might be good for all. The society did say thet Town End was the major concern of residents.
We have been told that there are about half a dozen proposals to be considered re the restructuring of Town End. My fear is that they will all be expensive and ultimately useless. Fact is I don't trust a bunch of people who have cost us in the region of £150 million. Call me finicky.
It is simple:
PS. Having read the Civic Society's newsletter I might suggest the Facade of the Year award be given to the Local Transport Plan