The shops and garage at the crossroads have been suffering loss of trade for many weeks, as the Council first closed one road access and then switched to closing another. More people could not get to the shops and gave up on the idea of a detour of several miles to do so. Now they have closed the car park as well! The place is deserted. Trade has collapsed. The food shops see fresh produce go to waste as so few people can get there to buy it.
Why does the Council want to do all this damage? Residents liked their old Crossroads and shopping centre and did not ask for more than £ 5m to be spent undermining it. There has been no compensation for the struggling businesses and no attempt to help residents get to the shops and garage. The Council is silent about the way it is wrecking good businesses and good services the local community liked.
I thought Lib Dems cared about the environment. Instead they are requiring people wanting to get their car fixed or filled, or needing to do a shop that requires a car to take the goods home to do many extra miles in their vehicles. They have bought expensive energy intensive paving and road surfacing products and employed contractors burning plenty of diesel and petrol in their machinery. This was a dreadful call which local people and Conservative Councillors begged them not to make. Why don’t they listen to what we want? Why are they so selective in their concern for the environment?
Follow this news feed: John Redwood MP