Regular readers will know that I am not a fan of road humps. It is likely that speed tables (brick raised areas on junctions) will be put on the junctions of Ruskin Road/Rotherfield Road, Ruskin Road/ Seymour Road and Talbot Road/ Rotherfield Road after residents voted in favour, both in the official council consultation and extra door-knocking by me and Eric. Nonetheless, as a whole Conservatives believe that they should not be the lazy default option to show that the local authority is doing something about a problem that is not necessarily there. In the first guest post of my blog, Cllr Graham Whitham, Conservative Spokesman on Environment & Transport shares the thoughts of our group and our pledge to residents for the forthcoming local elections:
“Tackling the impact of traffic and speeding vehicles is one of the most controversial jobs in Sutton Council.
Over the last 24 years, the ruling Liberal Democrats have placed many road humps in our roads. Many of the Borough’s road humps have little proven benefits and do no more than annoy motorists. Crude anti-car policies do not help anyone.
In some areas road cushions are necessary for traffic calming and road safety. A Conservative-run Council will only introduce traffic calming measures if residents want them and proven benefits outweigh negatives.
We will be straight with people, offering choice with the various options available. When a road is resurfaced we will confirm with local residents whether they want to keep road humps or not – existing traffic calming schemes can be removed.
We believe in really listening. It’s as simple as that.”
Our Commitment: We will ballot residents about removing unpopular road humps as roads are resurfaced.