Shropshire Council - Answers Please? Part 9
Do you remember this photograph from my Shropshire Council section part 7? I questioned why it had been selected with the white line treatment from that famous spray paint can! Yes, I assumed it was because the pavement was going to be dug up to be repaired when it wasn’t needed, but I was wrong. And when I am wrong, I will hold my hand up and admit I was wrong, so Shropshire Council, I am sorry – but only about the section of pavement, not your decisions, systems and money wasting.
Seemingly the fancy paintwork has a meaning!
This is because that fancy piece of paintwork seemingly means a drop kerb is being put in place. Yes, the pavement was dug up and replaced with a drop kerb to enable people to cross the street easier, but as well as drop kerbs being installed, we now also have this monstrosity, as one resident called it, and that is one of the more printable versions!
‘Monstrosity’ is one of the kinder descriptions I have heard!
I have to agree, really and people in town are not very happy with this piece of work! Not only because of how it looks, but also why waste money putting it there when it is not needed and what its purpose is? Well, the first thing we have to do is assume it is finished because there have not been any workmen there for over a week. We locals are guessing it is some sort of traffic calming measure, but the problem is it’s not really working; in fact, it’s not really working at all.
That is because anyone with half an ounce of driving common sense will know it will have to be wide enough to let large refuge lorries get through, so if you are driving anything smaller than a 26-ton lorry, you will easily get through the gap without slowing down, and many drivers will soon understand that their basic family car is a touch smaller and narrower than a 26-ton lorry, so no need to slow down here!
Admittedly, many drivers do drive down here within the speed limits and with care, but many did this before this ‘thing’ was put in place, but many drivers did not drive within the speed limits or carefully, and they continue to do this because this thing does not make them change their driving habits! If anyone from Shropshire Council would like to meet me so I can prove my point, we can buy a coffee (my treat,) and we can sit at the bench right beside this thing and observe vehicles for 30 minutes or so to prove if indeed it is a traffic calming measure that it is not working!
So, monstrosity has already been mentioned, right beside the oldest house in Shifnal and right beside a very old, prominent church in town, so some are also asking, ‘did anyone give the design any thought?’ It is a bit of an eye sore to be planted right beside these old historic buildings and not really in keeping with their history.
Will there be a pedestrian crossing put in place with flashing beacons? Because if there is, I would have to say it’s not really needed on this part of the street, simply because if you are patient, there are ample gaps in traffic flow to enable you to cross the road safely and comfortably.
What the street needed is 2 or 3 old-fashioned speed ramps that stretch across the width of the road so that the boy and girl racers would actually slow down for fear of damaging their pride and joy on 4 wheels! One just after turning onto the street, close to Key Angels Estate Agents and The Bell Restaurant. One just about at this location, before the turning into Vicarage Drive, and maybe one further up the street towards the roundabout. And tarmac speed ramps on top of a tarmac road would certainly look a lot better and definitely be more of a speed deterrent than ‘the thing!’
But were we asked, because I don’t believe we were, and I hope I am wrong on this point as well, is there anywhere we can see public spending and give our opinions before work begins, or does someone just make a decision on how best to spend our money, even if the decision is wrong, such as this one? Even if it looks really nice and bright at nights!
Sorry again, but people are not so happy with this one; we are even discussing how long it will be before a car hits the thing! Our neighbour got it wrong, as she reckoned a week. I said 4/5 weeks, and so we will see.
The other question I need to ask when it comes to spending money is, why did it take so long to install? Is that because the team doing the work only seemed to work half days, but then if they came all the way from Preston, as the guys did when they made their mess on Stafford Avenue last year, I can understand why they only worked half days; it’s a long drive home!
We can say that we have a nice crossing point even if we didn’t need one, and the drop kerbs look good, so why not just upgrade the drop kerbs already in place 10m up the street? From the photo at the point marked No1, there is an existing drop kerb. Admittedly, on the opposite side of the street, it is part of a driveway into that old house. But I am sure the owners would have been happy to get a new and appropriate drop kerb! So the purpose of the work can’t be to install drop kerbs, as they were already there!
2 drop kerbs, 10m apart!
Many might ask why this is such an issue; well, it is because Shropshire Council is wasting OUR money, as my previous posts have already proved. We pay a large amount of council tax, and we pay taxes to our government, of which Shropshire Council benefits, according to research to the tune of £151m or so. Add on approximately £240m from our council tax payments, and that is a lot of money, and the people spending that money need to be accountable for their decisions. But it seems there is a very frivolous approach to how OUR money is spent, and it is times like this and the rumours around their financial situation that it does make you wonder why money seems to be wasted. After all, we are still waiting for the waste food collections to be put in place, and research tells us the council have supposedly already received millions of pounds to put it in place, but where is the collection service, and where is the money?
To finish, I have this photo. It is a pothole that has been marked up now for some time and is waiting to be repaired. It is about 30m away from the work that was done for the monstrosity, but instead of that team doing the repair, another team will now have to make a journey to the same place to carry out a repair, and we all know that travelling and time equals money and an additional cost that could have been avoided. But then when the teams finish at lunchtime or thereabouts, I don’t suppose they will have had too much time to do this little repair!
A big job like this needs another team!
Why bother? Well, if Joe Bloggs asks Fred Smith, the builder, to carry out work at his house and so a private deal, and Mr Smith does half a day and a bodge job, that is up to Mr Bloggs, and I’m not interested. Sorry, but when it comes to public money being wasted, it needs to be highlighted!
And finally remember my last Instagram post: I have the ‘before’ photographs from the A4169; the finished job will be interesting, at least for me to see how our money was spent!
Thanks for reading.
DJ
