LAST week I watched a BCP planning committee meeting online as it related to a development nearby.

What struck me was not the debate around building height, privacy etc. but the notion that 27 flat owners need TWO exit/entrances when a perfectly good one already exists, with a new one to be added so that cyclists could enter and leave at two different points.

I know that council members have steam-rollered plans, clearly with no great thought or consultation, to do with amenities for Johnson’s favourite people, cyclists, only to then (e.g Glenferness Avenue) have to do a U-turn, something that we are well aware happens at national government level on a regular basis. It appears that money is no object when it comes to the needs of cyclists (never mind safety for children around schools, litter on our beaches or crime prevention).

As I understand it, the buzz expression “sustainable travel” is very much meant to include the interests of pedestrians as well as cyclists when it comes down to additional government funding. Apart from reducing access for cars in certain areas and making walking a bit safer at the odd roundabout how much has been spent on the wider interests and safety of pedestrians?

Since the start of the pandemic people have been encouraged to walk, and at least initially restricted to the areas in close proximity of where we live, so what did we discover?

Pavements in our road and many others are in dire condition-in fact despite the potholes the roads are often in better condition than the pathways and with vans regularly parked on kerbs it has been safer underfoot to walk in the road, something also not ideal for those with wheelchairs, pushchairs or those just walking with children.

I don’t know the legal position but I suspect that jaywalking is still regarded as an offence.

So come on BCP get off your high horses (or bikes)and spend some of those additional funds on improvement of those pavements which are used by much more people than use the roads on two wheels (bearing in mind the age and dexterity of the majority of local residents).

Step away from your single fixation with one mode of transport and commit to better use of funds and ensure that the interests of both cyclists and walkers are in tandem.

By the way, I have no problem with cycling and cyclists-some of my best friends (as they say) are keen cyclists but in my view their needs are unfairly and unevenly considered when it comes to dishing out public money.

DAVID MEADS

Hill View Road, Bournemouth