MAY I add my voice to those of Betty Ather, Adrian Shurmer and countless others regarding the traffic-calming measures that now blight our area?

These have been forced on us, with the minimum of consultation, as a fait accompli. I say this, having commented on measures before they were done and complained afterwards, with police support, that they were dangerous, only to find that Hyndburn Council did not take a blind bit of notice,

This is local government by autocracy. We do not pay the generous salaries of council officials to replace public consultation with dictatorship.

The countless millions of pounds spent on misplaced traffic-calming measures represent a public disgrace and waste on epic proportions. Driving down Dill Hall Lane, Church, and Park Lane, Great Harwood, or on the countless other bodged roads, means running the gauntlet at every narrowed point where driving by intimidation now confronts the already-stressed driver. Buses, lorries and large vehicles must cross the centre line to pass through the calming.

And what of those stupid squiggly bits hatched-in for no reason? Will they be fining us next for driving on them? Some of the mini-roundabouts defy comprehension.

Stop treating council tax payers as idiots. Consult us properly and give us confidence in what is proposed before spending our taxes.

This is not to say that traffic-calming measures are not required, but the arbitrary way the programme has been handled is an appalling, thoughtless example of dictatorship.

PHILIP CONGDON, Hindle Fold Lane, Great Harwood.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.