Opinion: Is roundabout plan for March Broad Street a retrograde step?
March town centre is set to be transformed with an £8million make-over. Indeed work has already begun on the Market Place part of the project.
No-one is arguing that the town couldn’t do with a freshen up. But I can’t help but sympathise with the sceptics when it comes to what is actually being planned. Ridding the top end of Broad Street of its traffic lights in favour of a
mini-roundabout, for
instance, does seem a bit of a retrograde step.
When the traffic lights were introduced in the 1990s it was because of all the shunts and bumps at the various junctions and fears someone would get seriously hurt without intervention. It was also argued the lights would help traffic flow better through the town centre.
Fast forward nearly 30 years and it appears we are about to turn full circle, with traffic experts arguing the lights are no longer helping traffic flow but are hindering it, and delays in Broad Street are only going to get worse.
There is probably little doubt that’s true, but I’m not convinced a mini-roundabout is going to do much to help. The main issue is the amount of traffic that has to funnel its way either along the by-pass or through the town centre to get from one side of March to the other. An incident on either of those roads and it is gridlock hell. How a mini-roundabout will help in that situation, I don’t know.
The reality is, March needs a second river crossing, and it has done for years.
Once there was a pencil line on a map where an
intended new bridge would go (it was off North Drive).
Somehow it got rubbed out, and houses were built where the road would have gone – a lack of forward thinking from the powers that be?
I know they might argue the funds would never have been available for a second crossing – that may have been true – but now we will never know.
Instead we are about to find out if a mini-roundabout, part pedestrianisation and a reduction in lanes through the town centre is a suitable substitute. I, like everyone else, await with bated breath to find out the answer.
* Strike action by everyone from postal workers to ambulance staff, train drivers, nurses and now teachers shows just how dire the situation is right now.
Many may think striking is not the way to go and it is only hurting people who are
already struggling – for
instance parents trying to juggle work and childcare or commuters trying to get on with their day.
But the right to withdraw work is possibly the only
power left to the average working person when it comes to making their voices heard. Getting to the point of a walk-out these days means a whole load of hoops have had to be jumped through by the unions and their members first. It is no longer a case of down tools and out the door. There are strict rules to be
followed.
It’s not a step any worker takes lightly, as for every day they are waving their placards they are losing pay – and let’s face it, no-one does that unless they feel they have no other option. I doubt there are many people who work for a living, either in the public or private sector, who don’t feel a bit aggrieved at the moment with our pay packets having to stretch ever further each month – so let’s be kind, show a bit of solidarity, even if it is only from the sidelines. Everyone has the right to expect a decent standard of living and a good work/life balance.
* Flytipping is once again in the news with a £400 fine hitting one culprit. On first consideration, flytipping seems a bit bonkers – after all, the rubbish has had to be transported to the dumping site, so why not go to the tip?
Answer – probably because of all the red tape that can entail, including the lack of access for vans. Surely it is better to let people take waste to the correct place, even if they are doing it for money, than to have it dumped in our countryside, where someone has to go and clear it up.
Maybe a small charge to those using the tip could be a way round it or perhaps even a subscription, as with brown bins. Just a thought...