After more than three years a situation that was first recorded in autumn 2017 is finally being officially acknowledged; air quality on Buxton Road Ashbourne does not meet national standards.
When it comes to the DCC Highway Authority it seems that what is 'safe' is related to how many people have been killed or injured in a given stretch of highway. It does not appear to be in any way related to how the average person feels as they attempt to cross that highway or ride a bike along it. We believe that at a time when we are encouraging as many people as possible to leave the car at home in order to tackle climate change, those involved in transport planning should take seriously the need to make people feel safe when walking, cycling or taking public transport.
From the Facebook postings of County Council Conservative leader Barry Lewis, it would seem that the controlling Conservative group have apparently decided that road safety is, after all, a good thing, even when it costs money.
The claim made by Matt Hancock that there was never a shortage of PPE in the UK last year has not surprisingly been met with a barrage of criticism from health professionals.
On the 11th February Nick Gibb, Schools Minister for England, wrote to all Returning Officers in Local Authorities urging them to look for alternative venues if schools were required to close in order to act as Polling Stations for the May 6th elections. A reasonable request you might think, in order to minimise the time lost from the classroom although the simple solution of holding elections at the weekend (as in many other countries) might seem preferable.
How often have we heard phrases like ' we have found no instances of such and such a problem in this area'?