OPINION: Letters to the editor of the Newbury Weekly News
Please tell us benefits of pedestrianisation
I have lost count of the number of letters to this newspaper from Newbury residents who object to the recent extension of pedestrianisation of the town centre.
It certainly goes into double figures, and in last week’s edition alone there were four such letters.
For those in favour of pedestrianisation, the correspondence to these pages has, to say the least, been in short supply.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but the only pro-pedestrianisation letter I’ve witnessed in this newspaper is from Meg Thomas.
But she happens to be a Lib Dem councillor, and therefore, by default, she is partisan to this ridiculous scheme. So her (politically biased) viewpoint can be more-or-less discounted.
Which leaves us with the square root of zero letters of support. (OK, maybe I missed one.)
If pedestrianisation were truly popular, one would expect residents to be queueing up to sing its praises in these pages.
Instead, there’s a deafening silence.
However, if this letter galvanises the pro-pedestrianisationists (try saying that after a couple of shandies!) into action, that’s fine by me.
Wax lyrical and tell everyone about the wonderful benefits Newbury has enjoyed since the introduction of this scheme.
I’d be interested to know.
Richard Howell
Newbury
Abandon this town centre experiment
It must be obvious, given the multitude of letters in the NWN about it, that the pedestrianisation extension in the town is not popular.
I’ve actually yet to meet one person that has had anything positive to say about it.
There has been one glowing endorsement from Meg Thomas, but seeing as she is a Lib Dem councillor, she would say that wouldn’t she!
There has been a distinct silence from the rest of the Lib Dem councillors that have invoked this nonsense, but the ones that don’t live in Newbury seem oblivious to the problems they’ve created.
Rose Curtis’ letter is quite correct in that several businesses in the town have closed very recently and there are others in imminent danger of closing.
I know this for a fact, because the people in the shops have told me so, which would add yet more empty shop units to the 10 or so already in Northbrook Street.
It’s very sad to see and I’ve lived in Newbury for over 50 years.
This isn’t unique to Newbury of course, but why make life even more difficult for some businesses in the town, or people that want to attend an evening event at the Corn Exchange etc?
Come on ladies and gentlemen of the council, admit that this is a mistake and restore the pedestrianisation back to the hours of 10am to 5pm.
That had worked perfectly well for many years and didn’t need changing.
You would have my respect and the respect of the majority of the town to admit that you’ve got this wrong.
It may have been a well-intentioned idea, but it’s time to end the experiment which, to remind them, the majority of us didn’t want in the first place.
Our councillors are seemingly still under the impression that this has been a positive thing for Newbury.
Mind you, some people still believe that the Earth is flat.
Dave Shields
Wash Common
Such an over reliance on motor vehicles
There were a number of letters complaining about the predestrianisation of Northbook Street/Bartholomew Street in last week’s NWN.
This only shows we have normalised our attitudes towards motorised transport.
There appears to be an unspoken belief that driving is natural, necessary and morally superior to other modes of transport.
The design of retail parks, supermarkets and our town centres has for far too long been car-centric.
Drive-through coffee shops are the epitome of our over focussed relationship with motor vehicles.
Governments and councils have previously spent millions expanding roads while underfunding active travel and public transport, and not investing in low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) and 20-minute neighbourhoods.
It is actually very refreshing to see a council promoting predestrianisation, as with Northbrook Street, and also starting to introduce LTNs such as the Kings Road closure.
These are important moves towards making a safer and healthier environment for everyone.
The over reliance on motor vehicles has developed a cultural psychosis. People who respect others in nearly every other context suddenly become selfish, reckless or even hostile because a motor vehicle has become part of the interaction.
Examples include speeding, running red lights, tailgating, parking in bike lanes, bus lanes and on pavements, road-rage, a sense of entitlement and the obsessive need to park as close to the destination as possible.
Once you start looking, you’ll see it everywhere, online and in real life.
We need to start to embrace prioritising pedestrianisation, LTNs, 20-minute neighbourhoods and active travel and public transport over driving.
We need to promote a society where schoolchildren are no longer driven ridiculously short distances to school, where commuters and shoppers can safely and easily undertake journeys by active travel and public transport, and to remove the over-reliance on motor vehicles.
The environmental, social and health benefits of such changes are immense and in everyone’s best interests.
There is a certain irony in motorists stuck in traffic complaining about the traffic when they are the traffic.
Similarly, the main reason cited by parents for driving children to school is “traffic danger”, yet by the mere act of driving they are contributing to the danger.
Society and individuals need to rethink their relationships with the motor vehicle.
Name and address supplied
Bring the buses back to Northbrook Street
They should allow buses back into Northbrook Street (even during the hours of pedestrianisation).
This would make it more convenient for disabled and elderly shoppers to come back to the town.
All of the steps and ramps at the rear of Parkway make it an inconvenient access point and the new bus station is a very long walk for a disabled person.
An extra source of revenue is being totally ignored.
Speaking to a pensioner just last week, they used to love shopping in Robert Dyas and now haven’t been in there for nearly 10 years.
Pensioners would be able to use their bus pass to regain direct access to the town centre.
This would also apply to pensioners and the disabled from the outlying villages.
All traffic should be allowed to use Park Way Bridge (two-way controlled by the existing traffic lights).
Park Way Bridge cost £1.5m 25 years ago, specially constructed to take 40-ton vehicles.
It is being underutilised.
They refused to make it a two-way bridge.
All electric vehicles with the exception of invalid vehicles should be banned during pedestrian hours.
Cyclists should be required to dismount and walk through with their bicycles. Many of them are riding too fast.
Finally, please abandon the extended hours of pedestrianisation – 10am till 5pm is perfectly adequate for most people’s requirements.
My own personal thoughts.
Brian Burgess
Andover Road, Newbury
Thanks for our parade through town
May I take the opportunity, through the letters page of the NWN, to thank the mayor, Newbury Town Council and, indeed, the townsfolk of Newbury for the wonderful reception given to the soldiers and veterans of Military Survey Branch, Royal Engineers/Royal Engineers (Geographic) and the Nottinghamshire Band of the Royal Engineers, when we exercised the Freedom of Newbury in our parade on Saturday, celebrating the 200th anniversaries of our three Geographic Squadrons.
It was a truly wonderful experience for young soldiers and old veterans alike.
Our links to Newbury go back to 1949 when the School of Military Survey moved to Hermitage to take over the old wartime hospital site, and since then all Military Survey/Royal Engineers (Geographic) officers and soldiers, together with many Commonwealth and foreign military personnel, have trained there.
With our specialist regiment moving to Barton Stacey (17 miles away) in the early 1960s and then joining the SMS in Hermitage in the 1980s, Newbury has become the ‘Survey’ and ‘Geographic’ branches’ spiritual home. Many soldiers have married locally and even more have settled in or around the Newbury area.
The kind words of the mayor and Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire were greatly appreciated by all those on parade.
Many of the younger soldiers hadn’t experienced the privilege of such a parade but theirs, and the veterans’, hearts swelled with pride at the reception from the public as their Regimental March played and they marched from the Market Square and down Northbrook Street “with bands a-playing, drums a-beating and due ceremonial”.
I should also like to give mention to The Royal British Legion (Newbury Branch), the town council staff under the leadership of the civic manager, Thames Valley Police, West Berkshire Council and Newbury Sea Cadets for all their support.
Ian Thurgate
Honorary secretary, Military Survey (Geographic) Branch, Royal Engineers Association
Come along to library’s 25th anniversary party
Newbury Library opened in the Wharf on July 1, 2000, and to celebrate the 25th anniversary this year a special reunion is being organised.
It is for everyone who worked and/or still works there since July 2000.
Librarians, library assistants, shelving assistants,caretakers and volunteers, past and present, are invited to an afternoon tea party at the library on Wednesday, July 30, from 2pm to 4.30pm.
As a contribution to the tea please bring with you a small offering of cakes/biscuits/scones etc, and if you have any photographs of the library since 2000 then please bring along for all to share on the day.
Please also spread the word to any past members of staff you know who don’t live locally.
Please confirm if you are able to attend to sjridley.sr48@gmail.com
Diane Coulson
Falkland Garth, Newbury
I don’t like the new Newbury kit colours
Having been a Newbury Town supporter for over 70 years, the colours have always been amber and black (except for a few odd times).
Why the change to red and white?
Am I the only one who does not like it?
Arthur Salt
Thatcham
Join this year’s Town Walks in Newbury
I would like to draw everybody’s attention to this year’s Town Walks which start on July 29 and run every Tuesday at 10.30am for the following seven weeks.
The walks start at the Corn Exchange, except for the Battlefield Walk on September 9, which starts at the Bowler’s Arms in Wash Common.
The walks are led by local historians and provide a fascinating insight into the history of Newbury.
Following an excellent article about the walks in the latest Out & About magazine tickets are going fast.
Seventy per cent of all tickets are now sold.
Tickets can be obtained at the Corn Exchange box office or online at https://cornexchangenew.com/events/your-community
Hurry now to avoid disappointment!
John Gardner
Newtwon Road, Newbury
