CONNECTING DERBY

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I visited the Connecting Derby stand in the Market Place and engaged in a conversation with one of the council's ambassadors. The official was somebody called 'Staff' (this appears to be quite a common surname in Derby City Council on these exhibitions, perhaps their name badges should include some initials).

The main, inner ring-road plan does not appear to cause a problem because, apparently, everybody who has bought a property along its route within the last three decades has been told that it will end up next to a ring road. I was surprised that the only noise abatement were trees, though. One might expect that the traffic levels are high enough only to cause a problem during the summer months when the trees have leaves on them.

We talked about access to entertainment centres, with the city council's emphasis being on pedestrians getting it all their own way. I suggested that, based upon my own experience, blocking off all vehicular access to the city centre after 10am can cause problems with loading into some venues such as the Guildhall, something that I had done in the mid-afternoon in the past for a recorded performance for the BBC.

'Staff' (if that is his real name) said that under no circumstances would it be allowed and that the solution was (and I quote); "Don't play there." I wonder what the Guildhall's opinion is on this. Working my way towards the front, I came across my letter mentioning bars and restaurants as guarantees for getting planning applications through and then, on the front page, we see that Full Street Police Station is to be 'developed' into apartments and homes along with (you guessed it) "ground-floor restaurants and bars."

There is quite simply too much going on for people to keep track of. This council-directed vandalism, throwing tokens of the past at us, trying to distract us enough to forget the real damage being done; putting seats, saplings and spotlights alongside the bars and restaurants that are destined to occupy the lower floors of every new 'development', is taking us nowhere. Paul Grosse

Andy Smart, Connecting Derby's project manager, thinks that some of the 'nasty things' the inner ring road completion will bring, can be alleviated, what a lot of unrecyclable rubbish. Here are some of the nasty things which cannot be relieved by planting a few trees:

City of Derby Local Plan policies state that "the needs of pedestrians, cyclists and disabled people must be taken into account". This issue has never been examined in conjunction with the proposed Phase 3 - part of the full application. When the effects of this proposed phase is added, the severance effect will be severe and will cause many journeys - in particular those on foot, bus or cycle - to be longer, more dangerous, polluted and tortuous because the inner ring road will cut off current access and many roads will be blocked off.

As the degree of severance increases as the traffic increases, people will be further dissuaded from alternative modes to the car. Public transport services will be caught up in the congestion and services will be cut. Trent has already cut one service claiming it to be economically unviable because traffic congestion meant it did not run on time. The severance for children accessing Beckett Primary School from the other side of the inner ring road will increase from moderate to severe. This places at risk any adult and child who choose to walk to school.

This does not fit in with the Derby City Council's policies of encouraging children to walk or cycle to school. In 1999, a total of 287 casualties (pedestrians and cyclists) occurred during pupils' journeys in Derby to and from school - near misses or minor accidents are not reported (figures from Road Accidents and Casualties in Derby 1999.) Of those travelling by car or taxi, there were 653 casualties - estimated at two to four per day in Derby - incurred during the school journey.

There is no indication by how much these accidents are expected to increase in the application, because of road and junction widening/building, though it is obvious that accident rates will increase as vehicle speeds on these roads increases and severance increases and until congestion occurs again. Unless they're going to be swinging through the newly-planted trees to get to and from school, I fail to see how the above nasty things can be alleviated. D Skrytek

Once again Derby City Council is trying to pull a fast one on the people of Derby. Older and wiser people may recall a similar story way back in 2000; because the reality is that despite the council's hubris this scheme has not moved on for almost five years; after all, it was supposed to be finished by March 2006! Could the council explain why this "latest news" was not released when they received it in April?

Perhaps it was because the scheme is controversial and our leaders did not want trouble before the May elections. Well, they still lost seats so that did not work and neither will the new inner ring road with its single carriageway construction in Stafford Street and mega roundabout at Burton Road. Before motorists start sounding their horns in celebration of the new road they should note that there are five conditions attached to the money from the government, including one that says the construction costs must not have increased.

Will Derby be the first place in Britain where road construction costs have not risen? Luckily, when motorists do arrive in the city centre they will not have to worry about finding somewhere cheap to park. The council has an agreement with a major provider of parking spaces so that the council decides how much that provider will charge, and it will not be less than the price for the council's own parking spaces.

Where were the councillors writing to this paper claiming credit for this nice little earner? Derby City Council must contribute at least £7m towards building the inner ring road, plus any further increases in construction costs. And it is not coming from developers, it is being taken from other public transport schemes, like £1m that was for a park and ride system, £2m for the new bus station and £3.5m that should pay for things like cycle paths. Welcome to the crazy world of Derby City Council and its "wholehearted support" for public transport.

A number of people have written complaining about the lack of zebra crossings and poor local transport infrastructure. For the next four years I expect that many more such letters will be coming to this paper because Derby City Council is going to decimate the budgets in its slavish obsession to build the inner ring road. It looks like it will be a busy few years ahead for Derby City Council's spin doctors. Perhaps it is time to employ a deputy or two to keep all these political hot potatoes out of the news. Richard Butler