Dismay

I read with dismay the front page article of your August 16 issue concerning a John Manwaring's proposal to Clevedon Town Council to make a part of Old Street one-way together with other changes that would necessarily follow. It is at best ill-considered and at worst a selfishly conceived, one-sided idea that I can only hope North Somerset Council will see for what it is - a vain attempt to make Meadow Road available for residents' parking regardless of cost and effect on the rest of Clevedon. Mr Manwaring states this would help the flow of traffic around the town. To my knowledge, Clevedon does not have a traffic flow problem. In fact, Clevedon is one of the easiest towns to navigate compared to many throughout the UK. Making Old Street one-way would simply result in greater traffic on ancillary routes, with no real improvement, in fact, quite the reverse. Meadow Road is no different to many others; we live in a world of increasing vehicular use and until alternative transport arrangements become acceptable and widely used it is simply a fact of life that parking will be difficult. If North Somerset has money to waste on such a hair-brained scheme then I am sure there are far better uses that such monies could be put to.A major point that Mr Manwaring has conveniently overlooked is the rear school entrance in Highdale Road. By diverting even further traffic up a road that already has its own serious parking problems for residents at the lower end he wilfully increases the risk to the many school children who cross its busy thoroughfare twice daily. In making this a one-way road the immediate result would be to add to congestion in the town as residents would only have one point of entry! This is a road that would be better suited to speed bumps and reduced traffic. Michael SymmonsClevedon