Road to ruin

9:33am Thursday 28th August 2008

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THE good people of Penarth and Dinas Powys, who contribute hugely to the coffers of the Vale of Glamorgan Council, have just about had enough!

Getting to and from work and going about their daily business has become intolerable, due to the immense amount of roadworks in and around these communities at this time.

Several letters of frustration on this topic have been written in the local Press of late, and a myriad of calls made to officials in Barry – to little or no avail.

Any responses have been polite, but with little substance.

Let us be clear – there is now less than a week left before the schools return for the Christmas term, and the Merrie Harrier work, in particular, is not scheduled to finish until November.

The clear agenda, motivated by ‘environmental’ concern, is that all this heartache is allegedly to provide a bus lane, in a vain attempt to move people out of their air-conditioned private conveyances and onto a bus – which is not a real alternative to more than 90 percent of the journeys made in the area.

The fact of the matter is that, like it or not, we, as a nation, and as a community, have built our busy lives around private transport.

As ratepayers, I believe we have a right to demand that the issue of getting to and from the workplace be taken seriously by our local authority – which must in turn have a duty to facilitate and support this vital part of the local economy.

The real effect of a difficult journey to work upon anyone during the working day is often underestimated.

In particular, it is unacceptable that no plan or real reason for such work has been communicated properly to the poor people whom it will affect – it just suddenly happens and we have to get on with it.

No wonder people get cross when a sign asking them to ‘protect our workforce’ suddenly appears, in a vain attempt to address Health and Safety issues.

Has the local authority not heard of root cause analysis?

May I therefore, through the Penarth Times, pose certain questions and suggestions to our local authority to help local people in their daily frustration, caused by roadworks and often badly-phased traffic signals, with particular reference to the Merrie Harrier scheme?

l Why does the council not take the trouble to advise those likely to be affected, of their plans, the benefits and the eventual shape of forthcoming roadworks?

l Why is the work only confined to an 08:00 to 16:00 period, thus spanning the morning and afternoon school run rush-hours?

l Could a complete overnight road closure not have been contemplated in the less busy August period?

l When work is not occurring, can the cones not be simply reconfigured by the workforce prior to their finishing time, to permit a freer traffic flow, out of hours at least.

l What is going to be done by the first week of September, when the schools return – a date everyone affected is really dreading – to alleviate the otherwise inevitable mayhem and daily misery of the successive two months (during which time work by Welsh Water in the centre of Penarth is due to start, leaving no alternative route)?

l Is it too much to ask that a progress report on how the Merrie Harrier scheme is taking shape be provided as a weekly column in this paper by the highways engineer responsible?

l Can we please see some willingness that the lessons learned from this and the Barons Court work are to be taken on board for any future schemes?

I trust that the Vale Council will respond urgently to these concerns through the Penarth Times – as it is probably one of the, if not the most contentious issue affecting Penarth and Dinas Powys in present times.

David G Mathew Lavernock Road Penarth