I AM sure that you have already had many messages about people falling in the town. It seems women need to wear men’s shoes in order to stay upright, or have men also fallen? 

I have had to pick my way very carefully in the town, even wearing ‘sensible shoes,’ and there is no doubt there are less people about than there used to be. Are they all in hospital?

When the planners thought to redesign the market place were they wanting ‘pedestrianisation,’ or ‘traffic calming?’ It is apparent that you can’t have both. It was not clear to me on my first visit after the builders left, when I suddenly had a car behind me. Thank heaven it was not electric and soundless.

Even while the builders were still working it was obvious to anyone with some design background that the angles, steps, kerbs and slopes were wrong.

Other towns in England have experimented with such projects and regretted it. In Bletchley town centre there was a major problem from the 1980s idea to ban cars. When Bletchley was pedestrianised, the elderly and infirm had to go by car or bus to Milton Keynes, which is a brilliantly-planned place for all abilities. So the town at Bletchley became a ghost town.  

In the 1990s lots of us worked hard to reinvent the place so that the locals, especially the disabled, could access shops, markets and services in their local town and to see the people they lived with while also benefitting from ‘community.’

Is it time to have a group of interested locals, businesses, services, etc. to plan for improvements as soon as possible to avoid any more horrendous accidents?

PRUE HOWARTH
Inaugural chairman, Bletchley Town Centre Regeneration Advisory Panel