8th April 2008

Letter from the Green party's Nailsworth candidate calling on us to choose to take responsibilities for traffic problems 

Dear Madam - I read David Thomas's letter about traffic in Minchinhampton with interest.  'I don't believe any of the councils have done enough to protect and preserve our beautiful town agains the increase in traffic on local roads'.  This has parallels with most small market towns - certainly Nailsworth with the A46.
 
Ultimately, if more of us choose to drive cars, and consume supermarket products (delivered in large lorries), we will have heavy traffic on our roads and in our towns as more of us exercise this 'right'.  On average a staggering half of all journeys are less than 2 miles, for these journeys most of us could choose to walk or cycle.  We can also choose to buy goods from local shops which generally do not use large lorries for deliveries.
 
The County Council can take some limited steps to mitigate the effects of heavy traffic.  However, the real power is with us to change how we travel and shop, and return our town centres to a greater peace.  Yes, let us take action to tackle traffic.  The Council cannot determine the volume of traffic on the roads - we can.
 
Fi Macmillan
Park Road, Nailsworth GL6 OHW