From Chris Porter, Ventnor:

With reference to the letter last week from Lee Morris (Ventnor traffic plan makes no sense CP, 04-05-18), I totally agree with his comments and I had already expressed almost identical thoughts by e-mail to Ventnor Town Council.

The glossy, full-colour leaflet, Destination Ventnor, and opinion slip was delivered to every household in Ventnor.

At what cost, I wonder?

I dread to think how much the council has expended on consultants for this well-meaning but totally unrealistic idea.

The leaflet is clearly designed to convince us all it is a wonderful idea backed by a well-researched plan — which it clearly is not.

The main difficulty is that a simple circulatory one-way system would be replaced by a complex two-way system.

Important factors omitted from the leaflet are:

a) How many “synchronising” traffic lights will be required? There would definitely need to be lights at the bottom of Pier Street to control exit into Albert Street, with paired lights at the Dudley Road exit into Albert Street. Further lights at top of Albert Street into Victoria Street, paired with lights in Upper High Street to control west-bound vehicles entering Victoria Street.

b) The research has not included timings for lights or expected traffic flows. In the summer peak, with just the existing lights in Pier Street, traffic can back up through Pier Street, Albert Street and into Victoria Street. With two-way controls in place this would exacerbate the situation.

c) Where will west-bound traffic go after taking a sharp left-hand turn from Albert Street toward the Esplanade? Logically it can only bear right into Hambrough Road exiting into Church Street (where it will meet with west-bound traffic coming down Church Street toward the town). A yellow hatchmark area or further lights would be needed to control this exit as there is not adequate turning space.

d) How can large vehicles exit Dudley Road into Albert Street and then immediately turn left toward the Esplanade?

e) There would be no parking permitted in Victoria Street or Upper High Street and unlikely in Dudley Road, Pier Street or Albert Street.

f) Under Option 2 (two-way Albert Street ), the glaringly obvious is glossed over as “more complex”. It fails to consider the impossibility of large vehicles passing or, as there could be no parking in Albert Street, the difficulties for patients visiting either of the two doctors’ surgeries or Lloyds Pharmacy in Albert Street.

g) Salisbury Gardens cliff top is a grassed recreation/play area. The leaflet doesn’t mention the constant stream of traffic (Option 1), which would undoubtedly create a danger.

h) The effects of any delays — for example; it takes perhaps ten minutes for beer deliveries to be made to The Volunteer pub in Victoria Street, which would completely block the main traffic flow in Victoria Street and lead to a town-wide blockage.

i) Major road layout changes would be needed to allow east-bound traffic to exit into the Upper High Street and possibly yet another set of lights to ensure clearance of Victoria Street before the west-bound traffic enters it.

j) What happens with a lights failure? At present, drivers use common sense in entering the Church Street/High Street junction but a signal failure within this system would create a total blockage of the whole town with no escape route.

If the council goes ahead Destination Ventnor will become Destination Anything But Ventnor.