From: George Swirski

See also: Timespan of Criticised County Council Cycle Lane Scheme Reduced

This letter was submitted before SCC announced the work would be completed by May 31.

I wonder how many readers are aware of the disruption that will occur to residents and users of London Road, Guildford from this coming January?

London Road will essentially be limited to one-way traffic for a seven-month period while work is carried out to install a new cycle path and re-engineer the existing pavements and footpaths.

While no one can argue against the principle of better safety for both cyclists and pedestrians, the way that Surrey County Council chose to interact with the local community raises serious questions.

Apparently, SCC had consulted a “selected” group of residents (however SCC chose to define this) as regards the project. The fact that SCC did not consider it necessary to make fully public that such a project and indeed that such a “consultation” was being considered raises serious questions about the legitimacy of the whole process.

Responding to a question raised by Ms. Angela Richardson MP; SCC replied: “This consultation showed that that 58 per cent of those residents and businesses we engaged with supported the scheme, with 27 per cent feeling that they didn’t support the scheme and 15 per cent unsure of their view.

“We haven’t made this public to date as we wanted to ensure that we were going ahead with the scheme, but we will be sharing the results of the consultation on the website and at the community event.”

SCC further writes:

“The drawings for the scheme as well as the traffic management will be available to view at the community event as well as, shortly, on our scheme website.”

So the project, now seemingly a fait accompli, will be announced to the community within the next few days.

So much for full local involvement and an open, transparent, democratic process.