Wednesday 23 April 2014

Green shoots of spring?




Easter weekend has come and gone. Whilst walking along Blackshaw Road on Saturday, I saw the car above. Given that the vehicle is damaged from the rear as well as the front, I suspect that some other driver managed to hit this car from behind with some force pushing the car above right over the sign post.

In terms of street vandalism, the owner of the vehicle in the picture no doubt will get an insurance claim. When it comes to fixing the sign post, our council is very unlikely to file an insurance claim to cover the costs. We all will pick up the tab for that, whether we drive or not.



For those of you not local to Tooting, this is how wide the road is at this point:


Then on Monday evening returning from a visit to my family, I saw this on twitter:




Sadly, both Labour and the Conservatives locally seem to take the view that these collisions are a suitable price to pay for the convenience of allowing people to drive everywhere, and anywhere they would like.

With my Lib Dem colleagues we take a different view. We hold the view that a more strategic approach should be taken, one where walking and cycling are included as a serious transport option, and not something to be bolted on (maybe) at the end to fit in around the space for motor vehicles. This means making choices about whether we allow unfettered through access for people to drive along residential streets. It means looking at our main roads and providing true protected space for people to be able to cycle or use a mobility scooter along them.

It seems that some local businesses are already ahead of the game on this. The Castle pub on Tooting High Street has had a refurb, and re-opened last week. This is what they've done with what was car parking space. Now, how's that for some green shoots of spring?


As an aside, The Selkirk pub has a lovely beer garden too.

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