Home Zone - We are In Favour
I must disagree most strongly with Andrew Clark regarding his letter in the Bognor Regis Observer about the recent Home Zone "At Home Day". I too, was there for a number of hours. I spoke to a number of people and I cannot understand how he can possibly state that the majority were against the scheme. My experience suggests that indifference, inquisitiveness and positive feelings were the order of the day. I suspect Mr. Clark is putting words into people's mouths to further his own ends.
What Mr Clark fails to appreciate is that this is a community project, and nothing will be done without the approval of the community. At this stage, the whole thing is open to discussion and it's down to the residents to make the decisions about exactly what they'd like to see done with the area. Changing the way the streets look and feel will change the way that people perceive the area and therefore how they behave within it. Better environment leads to better behaviour. Drivers will be much more aware that they are in a residential area and will drive accordingly, and pedestrians will feel much more at home in an environment where the car is no longer king. I can only assume that Mr. Clark is a reluctant pedestrian, and feels that it is his right to drive wherever he pleases.
No one is saying that cars will no longer be allowed to drive through the streets or that parking will be limited. If Mr. Clark had looked at some of the photographs of the Home Zone project in Manchester, he would have seen that all of this was still present, just in a format that puts people, not cars, first.
Mr. Clark makes much of the fact that Jan Cosgrove "appeared to be telling residents the he was against the scheme". Strange behaviour from the proprietor of the Fun Bus, which was involved in the "At Home Day". Even more bizarre then, is the promised appearance of the Fun Bus at forthcoming Home Zone events. Either Mr. Cosgrove does not practise what he preaches, or Mr. Clark has the wrong end of the stick.
The nonsense about a Home Zone for the Laburnum Grove area is further evidence of Mr. Clark's failure to understand the facts. He pours scorn on WSCC for not finding the money, and fails to appreciate that WSCC was given the money by central government (not found of its own accord, but given) due to the high accident rate in the proposed Home Zone area. If the Laburnum Grove area was such an accident black spot, then it stands to reason that the Home Zone would have been proposed in that area.
All of Mr. Clark's rhetoric is nothing compared to his comments on house prices. If he really believes that a drop in house prices in what is an already vastly overinflated market, is more important than the life of a child, then he really should take a long hard look in the mirror.
Jeremy Rogers