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News and Comment July 2011

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18 July - Wanton waste

Oaklands Road Oaklands RoadNorth Cray Road is not Bexley’s only road to nowhere, Albion Road (which runs parallel with The Broadway in Bexleyheath) is another four lane road for no obvious reason but maybe the work was done when money was not in such short supply.

When the dual carriageway was built, Oaklands Road was sealed off at its northern end making it little more than a useful parking spot for shop workers and others who work in the town centre. Just to emphasise their ability to do whatever they like Bexley council moved the War Memorial to ensure the road remained blocked. Following the alterations the adjacent Townley Road gets twice the traffic it used to; what a pity a councillor wasn’t living in it, probably if recent events are a guide he could have put a stop to it. A resident who has not forgiven Bexley council for making his life a little bit more difficult reports that they are at it again, this time building width restrictors at each of the intersections in Oaklands Road. He wonders why and so do I.


Oaklands Road Oaklands Road If this were a busy road with a lot of traffic, making it a potential danger to pedestrians, one might just be able to see a reason but it is basically a cul-de-sac with very little traffic. You could be forgiven for thinking that it is another of Frizoni’s (Deputy Director, Public Realm Management) ego trips or maybe a way of keeping F.M. Conway happy. Why is it, by the way, that Conway gets all of Bexley’s road contracts?

When Bexley council put in similar obstacles in Brampton Road, they caused accidents and removed them. My correspondent asks if I know why Bexley council keeps building obstacles in the road and I don’t apart from because they are “either malicious or incompetent” which was what my road safety consultant friend said after looking around Sidcup. So I rang his office to get an expert’s opinion. Unfortunately he is away chairing some EU meeting on the subject, but I hope he will get back to me on his return. If he can think of a good reason why any sane person would want to build little outcrops from the pavement in a minor residential road, I will let you know. In the meantime I shall assume it is because councillor Craske is keen to be able to claim again that he is spending just as much money on roads this year as he did last. That may be a laudable achievement if he wasn’t wasting so much of it. Doesn’t he know that money is short? Last year he failed to salt the borough’s roads and pavements, the little that was done was done by neighbouring boroughs paid to do it. Salting a few pavements may have saved more injuries than a few Frizoni Follies in Oaklands Road.

 

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