A view from Councillor Bill Boyd

I TOOK a walk around the city centre, just to get a feel for the experience visitors and residents are having right now.

What a mess. It makes one sad. This used to be a very pleasant provincial town. Now the narrow streets are just a confusing clutter of cones.

Where we have run out of red and white plastic cones the relief is in the shape of red and white plastic barriers.

It is not obvious how this contributes to safety – either road safety or social distancing safety.

At the changeover pinch points it is obviously more dangerous for pedestrians, cyclists and wheelchair users, on both counts. It’s also frustrating and distracting for motorists.

Signage is incomplete and difficult to understand. 

This shambles will make it much more difficult for the city to recover from the virus emergency. Yet again we are wasting money doing things that will make things worse when there are many simple things that could be done quickly and inexpensively to make it safer for people in our city centre.

One local resident said to me today that “someone in our council administration may be having a nervous breakdown”. I do not necessarily agree entirely with that sentiment but there is something seriously wrong with the decision making process and scrutiny of it.

Common sense seems to have been abandoned.

 Virus infections are not over.

 Our peak may well be still to come. We still need to be careful as we lift the lockdown. I really doubt if this is the best way to do it to keep people safe.