The restoration of white lines to the centre of Sandygate Rd ends a 7 month saga from which lessons need to be learned by Amey and the Council. The cost of repainting is £6,000 but, when you add in the original work, officer time and road safety audit, taxpayers are footing a very big bill. What needs to be learned?
People understand their local area and they see what happens on their roads – if you don’t properly consult them mistakes like this are inevitable.
If you are proposing a project that seeks to help cyclists, make sure you consult the local cycling experts. In my experience Cycle Sheffield offer advice that is based on their members travelling regularly on the routes involved and their detailed observations. This scheme may not have gone ahead at this location if their advice had been sought.
It’s a long, hard road back from “some idiots have painted white lines in the wrong place on Sandygate Road”. If you don’t tell local people what you are doing and why, this initial reaction is both inevitable and understandable.
Clear choices are being made not to consult local people or properly inform them via their letterbox. It’s motivated by the maximisation of profit and Sandygate Rd highlights all that is wrong about the Council’s contract with Amey. A contract negotiated by the Lib Dems when in power, finally signed by Labour and opposed from the very start by Sheffield Green Party councillors.
Peter Garbutt, Crookes and Crosspool Green Party
Peter Garbutt is one of the three Green Party Candidates for Crookes and Crosspool for the 2016 Council Elections.