Major obstacle

I WRITE with reference to the front page article in last week's Portishead Times,headlined 'A town divided'.I wholeheartedly support the campaign for a public transport route around the Port Marine development in Portishead. My elderly neighbours spoke to me only recently about the very same subject. The High Street is a long walk away for many residents, especially pensioners and young families and a bus-link to the rest of Portishead would be a godsend.However, there is one major obstacle in the way of this ever becoming a reality and that is the selfishness of many Port Marine residents who continue to park recklessly without any consideration for others. Here you will find cars parked on narrow roads, on pavements, on grass verges and on blind corners, all because the owners are too lazy to park in their allocated parking spaces and garages. Just take a look in the undercroft car parks and behind many of the properties and you will find loads of empty parking spaces but because some residents choose to park within a couple of paces of their front doors, these are not used. Consequently it is a nightmare driving through Port Marine and I have lost count of the number of times I have had to continually stop/shunt/reverse my (very small) car just to drive a few hundred yards. What hope would a bus have of getting around the route as suggested by Reyna Knight? A bus company would take one look at the parking situation and say 'No thank you'.Many people blame the developers of Port Marine for creating narrow roads but this is simply not the case. The roads would be more than adequate if only people were more disciplined and considerate with their parking. When the roads are finally adopted by the council, I hope suitable markings will be painted and strict parking restrictions enforced. Maybe then a bus company might consider routing its transport this way and many residents would be a lot happier as a result.Kevin Vodden - Eastcliff, Portishead