Jill Quilliam asks some pertinent questions about the impact of new development on our traffic. With some thoughtful planning, does it have to be a problem?

Think about it… more houses will bring residents’ vehicles, work vans and trucks, delivery vehicles for rapidly increasing online shopping, and service lorries.  All these have to traverse our parish roads. Residents use the roads to get to work, go to shops, and drive children to school and clubs. People socialise too and attend appointments. Other traffic travels to and through our parish.

We know the issues, but what are the answers? How can we re-think the ways we use our roads and parking in the parish, and what could we do differently?

‘We should have a really good bus service’, I hear you say. YES! And we could work towards that, except it isn’t something the NDP can affect. Instead, let’s think about land- use (which is what the NDP is about).

We need cycle paths for example; I can think of three possibilities for where they might go. Can you? We need a central car park for Flushing, and for Mylor Bridge and Mylor Churchtown. Which landowner would be willing to provide land? Have you any thoughts?

We need to provide incentives for walking to school, local shops or clubs. What could they be? We need online deliveries below a certain size and weight to be dropped at an outlying depot, which is certainly a new idea. Where could a depot be placed?

What do you think? Do you have other ideas? How can we use parish land to find solutions to traffic problems?