By the way – they’re setts (regularised, squared off) not cobbles (irregular, round). I stand corrected.
A muddled end of year spend a few years back has caused much synthetic rage and minor headaches for local transport officers. There was little or no consultation on the removal of most of the informal crossings, but there was a highly selective focus by a minority on the fact that the sets were causing issues (drivers hate ’em, the trip hazard, legal niceties about whose fault it would be if you killed someone crossing the road). Of course there are issues, especially if you keep repeating anecdotes as if they are facts.
Fight the proliferation of surveillance cameras. If you would like some advice on any of the below or would like to suggest another action then please do get in touch via the contact us link above.
* 1984 Action Day – 8th June 2014 – Date for your diary – take Part
My spies inform me that fissures are emerging in the local lab-con-lition over Dunbar’s long awaited Traffic Regulation Order (TRO).
Surely there can be no political dimension to the Traffic Regulation Order? Did the previous administration even approve it? Not sure it did actually – it dithered and delayed, rather like this one.
Sure, some of the TRO proposals are poorly conceived, and using a mega TRO with so many changes is confusing to the poor old public (and me for that matter), who struggle to hold more than one idea in their mind at a time.
There cannot be an ideological difference, as all three parties are signed up to the principles embedded in the local transport strategy. What about cronyism? Surely, there’s too few votes to be had from disgruntled drivers (begging for even more parking or removing the speed bumps that prevent free flowing rat runs through residential areas?) Anyway most people can’t be bothered to vote in local elections, and I don’t see evidence of free fags and booze even if you do. Or are there some quiet private interests at play – a conspiracy?
TROuble is that deferring the TRO, or at least not breaking it up into manageable chunks, there’s a real danger that we throw out the baby with the bathwater. If there is a conspiracy, its plainly one of considerable stupidity.
The headline figure for East Lothian as a whole is very high, according to a 2013 Community Planning profile published here. The East Lothian Residents Survey (2011) shows 99% of people surveyed saying that East Lothian was a “fairly good” or “very good” place to live, really quite high or hardly surprising, depending on where you live – or so you would think.
The results were generally very uniform – even when people were asked about their own neighbourhoods, the same pattern emerges. The averages conceal an interesting anomaly. Mostly it matters not where you live – residents of Fa’side, Haddington, North Berwick, Seton and Musselburgh wards all agree that their neighbourhood is a “very good” place to live not just “fairly good”. The range is 2:1 to 4:1 relative to those who say it is just fairly good. Continue reading How good is your neighbourhood as a place to live?
