Calling for people to keep an ‘open mind’ during the trial period [Devon Live]
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Demonstrations have been held against the new ‘low-traffic neighbourhoods’ in Exeter – at the beginning of the month and again last week.
But the debate has been going on for some weeks now – with Exeter’s ‘ghost cycle lanes’ slammed, a local taxi firm threatening to axe rides in Exeter and an ambulance on blue lights is filmed getting stuck.
All as an ‘army of protestors want to stop Exeter’s road closure plan and ‘raging Exeter residents mount a legal challenge against the Heavitree and Whipton Living Streets set-up by the city council.
But not everyone’s angry.
There are supporters of Exeter’s roadblocks who say they now feel safer:
Supporters of Exeter’s new controversial low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN) scheme are calling for people to keep an ‘open mind’ during the trial period and say they now feel safer cycling and walking in the area. The Heavitree and Whipton Living Streets trial, which will last for 18 months, has seen the introduction of physical ‘modal filters’ (bollards or planters) and bus gates being erected.
Despite the widespread anger that has been voiced so far, the scheme has also received praise from local residents who say it has achieved the council’s aims of making the streets safer for cyclists and pedestrians...
And today’s Devon Live carries an opinion piece saying that ‘car-choked’ Exeter needs to change as children are ‘ignored’:
There has been a lot said in these pages and online about the road blocks trial in Heavitree and Whipton which have divided the city of Exeter. Protesters have turned up at County Hall to brand Devon County Council ‘clowns’ over the changes and meetings have attracted huge turn-outs.
The common consensus among residents spoken to by DevonLive was a desire to be listened to and for the changes to be reversed. But supporters of Exeter’s new controversial low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN) scheme are calling for people to keep an ‘open mind’ during the trial period and say they now feel safer cycling and walking in the area.
Views on either side of the debate have been polarised. Neither side seems likely to back down. But one person, writing to our sister print title the Express and Echo, say that life without cars is perfectly possible and that places like Exeter are choked with cars. We can do better.