Car Wars

Market Hill, Sudbury, a contested area

 Is there no end to the number of people who seem to think that they need to jump into the debate about traffic in Sudbury Town Centre?

This week I see that UKIP have decided to throw their hat into what is an already very overcrowded ring.

It does occur to me that progress of any sort is unlikely when so many voices, many claiming to be the ‘true voice of the people’, add to the cacophony of suggestions. (In recent years different people have proposed the following:  a by-pass, no by-pass, a Southern relief road, a 20 mph limit, a traffic ban in Market Hill, traffic sharing in Market Hill, no parking in Market Hill, less parking in Market Hill, a bus station, no bus station, making Friar Street one way, etc, etc. etc.)

I have to say I have some sympathy with the frustration felt by members of the Sudbury Steering Group, which has been working hard  trying to resolve a number of issues concerning the centre of the town in a holistic and measured way for some years now.  It seems that just as they are about to reach some sort of consensus, based on what is possible, another voice bellows forth, simultaneously offering its own solutions.  Generally this is accompanied by an offer to hold a public meeting, at which the owner of the new voice will feature prominently, and where a good deal of heat and little light will be generated.

Of course it is very tempting for those who are hoping to make their mark ahead of the Parliamentary election in May 2015 to jump onto this particular bandwagon.  A MORI poll commissioned by the County Council’s administration last year found, unsurprisingly, that roads and road related issues are at the very top of people’s priorities, leaving the, arguably most important subjects of Adult Care and Education a long way behind.  We tend to value what we most use.

Having spent quite a lot of time in other parts of the south of England where congestion is much more of a problem, I do think that some people do protest too much.  Many of our market towns have a real problem with regard to the impact of heavy lorries, mainly due to a lack of appropriate major trunk roads, and I do think that this is a major matter for concern.  However, were the towns to be created today, rather than developed over hundreds of years, they would no doubt be configured somewhat differently.  That they are not particularly convenient for the modern age is the price we pay for their beauty and charm.

The view that our traffic problems are relatively small would seem to be supported by the recent quality of life survey in which the Babergh District area was named as among the top 50 places to live in the UK (and also the happiest!).  In the Sudbury Free Press for Thursday 25 December (page 4) I read ‘The district scored particularly well in terms of a low level of crime rate (sic) and a low traffic flow.)

Those were the days.....Travellers passing through a village by Thomas Gainsborough (1727 to 1788)