I RECENTLY visited Cirencester with a friend who is blind.

I am hard of hearing and with some pavements gone and the signal crossings switched off for the repaving scheme works, we found it confusing to cross Market Place and West Market Place where they join Castle Street. 

You don’t know which way to look or where to wait for traffic. 

I was later shocked to read in the online Wilts and Glos Standard about the number of people tripping over new kerbs in Castle Street. 

The kerbs on one side of Castle Street may have to be changed and stand out more visibly against the new paving laid each side of them. 

But until then, I wonder if some of the accidents are due to people who decide to cross away from the Market Place junction, where previously they would have used the signal crossings. 

Frail and older people rely on signal crossings with the sensors that give them extra time to cross. 

Blind people hold the rotating cone under the push button to tell them when the traffic is stopped. 

Can we hope that with paving works finished for the time being, the crossing lights at the Castle Street and Market Place can all be switched back on for Christmas?

PETER MONK
Newnham