A puffin crossing installed close to a busy mini roundabout in Keswick has been branded “a living breathing piece of pointless stupidity and an utter waste of public money” by an outspoken town councillor.
Referring to the £130,000 crossing that has been erected between the junction for Coleridge Court and the Lakes and Dales Co-op as a condition of the £6m Premier Inn development, Cllr Tony Lywood told the July meeting of Keswick Town Council: “The only other time in my life that I have seen something like this was when Tiverton Urban District Council road diggers had completed all the things they needed to do and in the last two months of the budgetary year went around digging holes and filling them in again.
“How the county council has got itself in a situation where they have put a crossing in an area where it is not needed and not wanted and started to be built in the middle of summer.
“It beggars belief that somebody in a bunker somewhere made this decision that has such consequences.”
Two weeks ago, when the crossing on the A5271 Main Street was still under construction, Cllr Lywood reported that the works had caused major traffic snarl-ups and warned that it was a precursor of what was to come.
“It’s not even in place yet and already it’s causing traffic chaos,” Cllr Lywood told the Reminder. “This is an example of where the county council has not listened to local concerns.”
Afterwards people took to social media to voice their concerns with Alastair Westle saying: “Give it 12 months and the office bound idiots will realise the locals were right and rip it up. More money down the pan.”
Derek Newton said: “Surely they now have to replace the roundabout? You can’t have a traffic control measure that close to another traffic control measure. We need to keep traffic flowing.”
But Amanda Newby-Tucker said: “There is a need for a crossing on that road as it’s impossible to cross at times. People drive too fast on and off the mini roundabout. I’m surprised there haven’t been more incidents.”
