| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Brentford High Street Ghost town | |
| Posted by: | Eric Baker | |
| Date/Time: | 04/09/20 17:50:00 |
| I agree that bikes, scooters and skateboards can be a hazard, especially on narrow pavements. But unlike cars and e-scooters they are not illegal on our Market Square as far as I know. And parked cars are far more dangerous. It's not how fast they drive to park but that parking means the use of one of two illegal maneuvers, driving across the pavement or else through a gap in Hounslow Highways bollards which must be left closed to prevent parking. It's all about sight lines - cars and, even worse, vans block lines of sight for everyone using the square and there have been some serious examples of cars parking causing a hazard. The most recent I saw was when someone drove through a gap (that should never have been left) in the bollards for a KFC one evening. The square turned from a delightful playground for children (in full sight of their parents) of people enjoying a meal at Rosetta to a bedlam of alarmed parents trying to get their children away from the danger. I'm puzzled by the continued attempt to say that anyone is allowed to do anything they like on privately owned land. That sounds like a nasty state of anarchy to me and does not reflect the reality in our country. Like it or not pretty much everywhere is governed by zoning, planning provisions, licensing etc. Some call it red tape but I call it civilisation. The patch of land that's been causing the parking problem on our town square does not even abut a road so there is no acceptable way to get a car onto it in the first place. If you did you would then be in breach of Planning Law. There are exemptions for markets but none for casual parking. Yesterday I saw the latest model of the Ballymore phase one development. It seems well designed to connect the High Street to the waterside and draw in plenty of people - on foot. No longer will the centre of Brentford be at all ghostly. OK it's two years away but we've been waiting a long time. |