I WOULD like to respond to the letter from Mr Blannin (repeated above) in last week’s Standard. His timing is rather unfortunate as we held a meeting on Tuesday, December 9, which might have caused him to rethink his accusations.

Firstly; I would not belittle (by describing them as my “friends”) the opinions of the 500+ voters who signed the petition expressing concern about vehicle and personal safety at the new bus gate junction with North Home Road. They are residents of the Beeches and entitled to have their opinions considered.

Secondly; at the meeting on December 9 representatives of local councillors, Gloucester County Council, police and fire services, the bus company and local residents met at the bus gate to discuss safety concerns and suggest a positive way forward. There were no objections to the residents’ proposals and it was agreed that the representatives of responsible agencies would feed back confirmation and actions to Stuart Tarr, the Chairman of the Beeches Community Group.

In brief, the proposals were: 1. The bus lane shared surface (with pedestrians and cyclists) could only be accessed by bus or emergency vehicles.

2. A maximum of five buses per day would use the lane.

3. The bus lane would be one way only from South to North (this was misreported in the Standard as North to South).

4. Emergency vehicles would be free to travel in either direction.

5. The effective speed limit was suggested to be 10mph rather than the default 30mph, and bus drivers to be instructed not to enter the lane if pedestrians or cyclists were already using the shared surface.

These proposals would allow buses to use the lane and provide a service to the residents of Mulberry Court and the Kingsmeadow Estate while preventing the major danger of buses crossing north to south across priority traffic at the dangerous North Home Road junction.

It would also address some of our fears for pedestrian and cycle safety when using the shared surface bus lane.

Implementation of the bus lane has always been dependant on fulfilling the statutory requirement of safety audits on a new shared surface road, and the petitioners concerns provided input but have not prolonged these matters.

Lastly, on bus routes within The Beeches, we feel that it is better to address safety concerns proactively rather than try and correct them after the fact.

Just because history means that parts of Cirencester have ‘got away with’ a difficult mix of traffic and streets, it does not mean we should replicate that practice and gamble with our residents future safety if some planning now could mitigate that risk.

ROGER SWEETING

North Home Road