Pulling away threads of council issues
Let’s not pull any punches here – there are major systemic issues within Coventry City Council.
With each pull of the thread, the Council’s Highways and Parking departments unravel that bit more.
At a time when Jayne Innes, cabinet member for City Services is resoundingly silent on these matters (not her default setting by any means), the public are left with an unelected council employee desperate to sell his story at every opportunity that the public, DfT and Traffic Penalty Tribunal are wrong and are all being unduly unfair to Coventry.
It just so happens he is responsible for the areas being scathingly criticised.
The latest development is this officer’s (Colin Knight) claim that Coventry does not have any “shared space” areas.
Worryingly, Mr Knight is on record signing off official documents which refer to the locations as a “shared space environment”.
Equally as worrying, we have years of tweets made by the account @jayneinnes, referring to these locations as “shared space”.
It would appear that now there is national criticism of “shared spaces”, the council are trying to distance themselves from such terminology.
We’ve seen that approach many times before haven’t we folks?
At a time when the great people of Coventry are working hard on realising their potential in the delivery of the 2021 Culture win, it is our opinion that it is time to cut loose the ‘dead weight’ in these problematic departments and higher up the food chain.
If the national tribunal of expert legal traffic professionals are treated with such contempt by these unelected council employees, then what hope can ‘average Joe’ hold?
Especially when the public’s elected representative seems to be more in “outer space” than “shared space” when it comes to these matters.
Richard Heneghan
Road safety campaigner
Tile Hill
Coventry
£300m transport plan will have big benefits
I have welcomed the £300million plan to improve transport for disabled passengers.
On the 25th July, the Government has launched an Inclusive Transport Strategy to improve accessibility across all types of travel for people with visible and less visible disabilities.
The strategy – backed with funding of up to £300million – will significantly benefit passengers with disabilities in Coventry.
It includes investment in rail accessibility infrastructure, commitments to produce league tables which highlight operators that are delivering the best service for disabled people,
and funding for Changing Places accessible toilets at motorway service stations.
It has also recommended that Shared Space Roads are halted In the UK.
It has stated inclusive design guidance, will have to include kerbs and controlled crossings to ensure pedestrians do not have to share space with vehicles.
The shared space scheme in Coventry does not have traffic lights or kerbs, these are areas where neither pedestrians or vehicles have right of way.
I have asked Coventry City Council and the cabinet member for city services if Coventry will be reviewing the existing junctions.
“Transport helps us get to work, stay in touch with friends and family, and access vital services like healthcare and education.
It is right that we work to achieve a genuinely inclusive transport network, which meets the needs of all people, regardless of whether they are disabled or not.
For our ageing population, and the fifth of people who identify as having some sort of disability, access to transport can be far from straightforward”.
Tim Mayer
Councillor Westwood Ward
(Conservative)
