No safety in numbers featured in report

Nor was I surprised to learn that the roadworks were road safety measures. It was at this point that I was reminded of the upheaval and expense involved with the safety measures foisted on Leamington’s Parade and surrounding streets to improve the lot of pedestrians and to create for them a much safer environment.

Proving that age doesn’t necessarily dim curiosity, I turned to the internet and discovered a very interesting document entitled “Mixed Priority Routes - Results Update and Cost Review” published by the Department for Transport. This showed that, for Leamington, they needn’t have bothered; while the scheme did not increase the casualty rate, it made no improvements, the accident rate staying the same.

This means that we, the taxpayers, were stuck with a bill for £3,445,000 for no reduction in accidents. Just think, for that money we could have paid 13 people £25,000 for ten years to walk up and down the Parade telling people to be careful - and have a bit left over for uniforms.

Do county councillors vote for these schemes, or do they leave it all to officers? Perhaps if our elected representatives really looked out for our town centres, we wouldn’t need Mary Portas to do it for them.

Can I be excused some scepticism about the end result of the Warwick scheme? - Steven Howe, Roxburgh Croft, Leamington.