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John Harrington

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Everything posted by John Harrington

  1. If it turns into a raspberry soon as did the poor Old Maylords I sort of hope that we can buy the complex off of Stanhope, British Land et al (or lease at £1 for 250 years) and turn it into our university. Keep the cinema though and maybe Waitrose, maybe even Debenhams. Oh bugger, who am I kidding, if Jett from Gladiators opens it I'll be there on day 1. I won't be proud of myself though.
  2. megilliland: I asked Cllr Graham Powell (who was the Cabinet Member with the Portfolio for Highways and Transportation at the time about this). I asked specifically about Ben Hamilton-Baillie's plans for Broad St and King St which the Council had commissioned him to look at/quote for revamp and full Shared Space type treatment and he said they decided it wasn't value for money. As regards the ESG and the Newmarket vids I can only presume post 2008 the developers also decided (especially as no one had asked them to sign a Section 106 making sure they were responsible for infrastructure improvements) they didn't want to spend the money. One of the things we said to Councillor Price in our last ditch attempt meeting (to avoid cutting the trees down) was why have you employed Ben, embraced his and others ideas for Newmarket and Broad St etc but in the next breath are telling us we're mad if "you think I'm going to be standing there on Monday morning ready to flick the switch for the traffic lights to go off you got another thing coming, people just won't give way to each other and it will be a mess"?
  3. I second that Frank (about Bobby making him smile...realise the conversation has now moved on...I'll get there in the end)!
  4. Morning all: We had a very good meeting on Friday when a disparate bunch of Herefordians told the Highways Agency we were fed up with the ridiculous never ending traffic problems that blight our daily lives. The solutions they have applied (the HA) don't seem to be working and have caused disproportional disruption and bad feeling in relation to any evident benefits. The only improvement of any value, I personally feel, has been the implementation of the new updated Scoot system which has eased congestion somewhat along Edgar St (southbound) at certain times of the day (although at the end of last week that seemed to be less the case as traffic on Newmarket St and Edgar Street seemed to snarl up again. And Belmont Rd is still the absolute nightmare it ever was). So what do we do? Well, we moan and whine and whinge a bit and then grin and bear it mostly...but it doesn't have to be entirely like that. It's easy to be disheartened and cynical about Hereford traffic and the City in general when our officials (elected and otherwise) don't seem to have a clue or a care about what they are doing as they set about helping (or allowing) the City to degrade into a mess. Quite a few of us have been looking at different ways to make traffic work more effectively on the existing road network in the City. Colin has been campaigning for several years to get the Belmont/Asda lights switched off and is equally determined that removing the traffic lights on Steels/Tesco Roundabout will work too. We independently came to that conclusion too (as a way of saving the Edgar Street trees initially), as have many of you too, sitting in traffic over the years, wondering why the hell it has to be like this! So we've all decided it would be a good idea to work together to ask the Highways Agency to trial removing the lights by first modelling (as in expensive supercomputers) the traffic flow to see if removing the lights would work and then actually physically switching them off for a trial. If it doesn't work it doesn't work but it can be no worse than what we've had to put up with so far. And the little evidence we have so far (Martin's traffic expert crunched a few numbers before the meeting on Friday) seems to suggest that removing the lights on Steels/Tesco Roundabout would work and should ease congestion. Which is not entirely surprising as both roundabouts managed quite well for many years as roundabouts rather than, effectively, junctions. We think for the principle of Lights Out to work really well (or to allow us to examine properly whether or not it will in any case) the lights need to be switched off from Belmont/Asda all the way to Steels/Tesco Roundabout, including the Barton Rd/St Nicholas Street junctions and the Eign Street/Victoria St slip. It sounds mad but this is where prominent national campaigners like Martin Cassini come in. They have overseen the implementation of Lights Out/Shared Space schemes in several parts of the UK and they know that in the majority of cases it not only works (dispute enormous official resistance and doubt) but makes travelling pleasant once more for many. Pleasant for motorists who keep moving in the new system, even if it's slowly at peak hours, rather than sitting seething in stationary traffic. Pleasant for cyclists who are shown more courtesy and goodwill. And pleasant for pedestrians who are able to cross roads more easily in more places because motorists and other road users are taking more personal responsibility for their actions on the road rather than (wittingly or unwittingly) allowing the traffic robots to dictate their every action.One thing that worried the HA engineers we spoke to was the concern for safety. Engineers are naturally cautious (and mindful of litigation perhaps). We pointed out that in every instance were Lights Out/Shared Space was trialled or permanently implemented accidents went down dramatically. This the same in the UK and more so in Germany and the Netherlands were two entire towns removed all their traffic lights. Amanda Martin, whilst giving the HA engineers the same tough love she gave Cllr Johnson in the Kindle Centre, pressed the HA in the same meeting for more cycling funding for Hereford (where the road responsibility lies with the Highways Agency, ie/the A49 central corridor including Edgar St). They seemed prepared to look at that if trials for Lights Out went ahead. This rational is based on mutually related points. More cyclists means less motorists and less congestion, less congestion means more road space for the provision of cycle lanes. Safer better roads means that people who are keen to cycle can do so safely, not just for fitness or pleasure but to make routine trips around town they would normally prefer to do in a car for worry of safety and air pollution as they try and wend their way around the City centre. Jesse Norman attended the meeting as the Highways Agency are a central government body and he is our MP. He was very enthusiastic and supportive of the idea. He and the Highways Agency pointed out though that for this to go ahead (the trial) we would need to encourage the support of City and County Councillors as many of the side roads are Council responsibility and naturally a scheme of this scale, involving the centre of the city, would need support from our elected representatives, as well as the public. So that's what we are aiming for. A good debate, as many Councillors (of any denomination) onboard and a willingness for all parties to consider at least trying to see if this would work. The benefits are: it can be trialled relatively quickly (as opposed to the Cabinet's stated desire for a by pass or the City Link Rd), it requires no new roads or signals and is relatively inexpensive therefore by comparison to traditional approaches. Finally, it might work! As an aside, Martin is looking for a city to go completely naked (calm down Bobby47) for a prospective national TV programme about the benefits of the Lights Out/Shared Space philosophy. Could be Hereford. Might be nice, although, being Herefordians (naturally cynical and sarky) we're not going to admit that. Lobby your senator!...as they say...or e-mail your councillor.
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