This week's Bromsgrove and Droitwich Standard letters page...... - The Droitwich Standard

This week's Bromsgrove and Droitwich Standard letters page......

Droitwich Editorial 10th Sep, 2021   0

‘Who signed off Bromsgrove crossing?’

I AM writing in reference to the article in last week’s Letters to the Editor ‘We’ve been ignored’.

I am astonished that in these difficult financial times the planned Toucan crossing now sits in a more easterly position closer to the Slideslow Island.

The change in the desired crossing not only gives concerns about safety, it comes at a large financial cost!

Who signed off the project on behalf of the council ?




EA Kealy

Bromsgrove


 

‘Where is the transport assessment we were promised?’

I READ Worcestershire County Council’s (WCC) proposed cycling and pedestrian bridges over the A38 lead to those residents affected seeking FOI requests for data and evidences supporting the need to spend £6.23million of our money on the scheme. WCC appears to disregard or even attend to these residents’ views.

This seeming rejection of local views prompts me to ask what is the progress of the Strategic Transport Assessment (STA) jointly created by WCC and Bromsgrove District Council (BDC) and announced as being in action at the last BDC meeting in April this year?

Residents may remember a petition of 5,000 signatures which was asking for a review report of the road system in the west of the town to be made to ascertain whether a relief road was necessary in view of the developments on that side of Bromsgrove.

BDC rejected wholeheartedly such a report request at its April 21 meeting as the vaunted STA was said to be already in progress to look at transport needs across the WHOLE of Bromsgrove.

The A38 is surely part of the WHOLE of Bromsgrove and thus is well within the confines of the much-awaited STA.

The BDC and indeed WCC noted and assured those public consultations would be wide-ranging to obtain all local input to the assessment document before its release.

I am at a loss, along with many other residents, to understand how a £6.23million project can be started without first completing the councils’ own STA to allow residents’ input to decide priorities in our own town. Last April the 5,000-name petition was ignored pending the STA so what chance a 286-signatory petition had got against such intransigence is clear.

The STA has been on the BDC, and in cooperation with WCC, agenda for more than three years now with total inaction on any consultation. It would appear that millions of pounds of our money is about to be spent on any scheme without due consultation and it would seem we are only asked to pay up and shut up by our elected councillors rather than being consulted at all.

Graham Dallas

Bromsgrove

 

Join WI’s campaign to ensure communities have the bus services they need

I AM writing to ask your readers to join the efforts of the Women’s Institute to ensure local communities have the bus services they desperately need. These next few months are crucial to get their views heard on improving bus services in their area.

Bus services play a vital role in ensuring communities remain sustainable, helping to reduce social isolation and carbon emissions, and ensure access to employment, education, local facilities and health services.

Our WI ‘Get on Board’ campaign seeks to raise awareness of the importance of local bus services and the impact of cuts on communities – and we need more to join us.

Since 2010, local authorities have faced budgets cuts which have put pressure on the delivery of local services including libraries, children’s centres and bus services. According to the Campaign for Better Transport, council bus budgets have been cut by 25 per cent since 2010. Local authorities across England and Wales were found to have taken £182 million away from supported bus services in ten years, affecting more than 3,000 bus services in England.

Over the next few months, Local Transport Authorities and Bus Operators in England will be producing Bus Service Improvement Plans for your area. There are many ways your readers can get involved to ensure their views are heard on services, timetables, routes, integration with rail, ticketing and other areas related to bus services.

They can take part in consultations, get in touch with their local transport authority and bus operators, and speak to their local Women’s Institute branch.

For more information visit www.thewi.org.uk/get-on-board

Ann Jones

Chair of The National Federation of Women’s Institutes

Free blood and transplant curriculum resources for schools

CALLING all secondary school teachers in Bromsgrove and Droitwich – young people are now learning about saving lives.

Blood, organ and stem cell donation are now on the Key Stage 3 and 4 curriculum and we have some free online resources to help you teach this important topic to 11 to 16-year-olds.

Your pupils can be empowered to discuss and decide about donation and we hope they’ll prompt conversations at home too.

Visit www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/teaching-resources to find out more, we have detailed lessons and optional extra activities. You can also request a speaker, many of whom have a personal story linked to donation, to attend a school assembly.

Alex Cullen

Head of Marketing

NHS Blood and Transplant

 

EDITOR’S COMMENT 

THE RESPONSE to the appeal for donations at Bromsgrove Methodist Church Centre for Afghan refugees resettling in the UK has been fantastic.

It is good to see residents – as many did during the pandemic – going the extra mile to help those in need.

Whatever the rights and wrongs are over entering Afghanistan 20 years ago and withdrawing troops, the important thing is to support those left in peril and, in many cases, homeless and Bromsgrove is doing just that.

 

We welcome your letters…..

What pressing issues do you feel need addressing in Droitwich and Bromsgrove? Send us your views to [email protected]

 

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