Nuxx:4e3844e2$0$2482$db0fefd9@news.zen.co.uk

Path: num2.nntp.dca.giganews.com!num1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!number.nntp.dca.giganews.com!border3.nntp.dca.giganews.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!pink.octanews.net!indigo.octanews.net!news-out.octanews.net!mauve.octanews.net!nx02.iad01.newshosting.com!newshosting.com!news2.euro.net!feeder.news-service.com!tudelft.nl!txtfeed1.tudelft.nl!dedekind.zen.co.uk!zen.net.uk!hamilton.zen.co.uk!prichard.zen.co.uk.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <4e3844e2$0$2482$db0fefd9@news.zen.co.uk> From: Nuxx Bar  Newsgroups: uk.rec.cycling Subject: Re: Councils do listen to requests. Date: Tue, 02 Aug 2011 19:41:35 +0100 References: <50498a4b-af9a-4a8d-b8a9-0459914bb9fe@q2g2000yqh.googlegroups.com> Lines: 38 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.7; rv:5.0) Gecko/20110624 Thunderbird/5.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <50498a4b-af9a-4a8d-b8a9-0459914bb9fe@q2g2000yqh.googlegroups.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Organization: Zen Internet NNTP-Posting-Host: b3d00290.news.zen.co.uk X-Trace: DXC=DObV4 On a large part of my commute I use several ex-rail lines, the first > one is kept impeccably clean; any glass remnants are swept away quite > regularly. However, on another track that leads over the River Hull > including: > > "Wilmington Swing Bridge > A Grade II Listed railway swing bridge, built by the North Eastern > Railway. It opened on 7 May 1907, and replaced the original 1853 > bridge. Railway use ceased in 1968, and it is now used as a footpath > and cycleway." > > there was a massive amount of glass that never seemed to get shifted. > Using an online feedback form, I sent a request to Kingston Upon Hull > City Council to see if they could send one of their sweeper outfits > down there sometime. On riding down there yesterday it seemed my > request was heeded and there was hardly any glass and other debris at > all which made for a much more relaxing ride home.

West Berkshire District Council have efficiently acted on my emails multiple times, by carrying out improvements to things such as a road surface and the phasing of some new traffic lights within a week or two of me asking. So some councils are indeed helpful (not just to cyclists but to motorists as well); it would be nice if they all represented the electorate that well.

Of course, some councils will listen to cyclists but not motorists, which is odd, considering that only a small number of nutters are going to be (perversely, sadistically) happy with things being that way. However much some may wish to change this, most voters are motorists, and most voters are not regular cyclists. And councils, like other public servants, are supposed to *serve* the community and do their bidding, rather than refusing to if they drive and trying to bully them into using often inappropriate modes of transport instead...attempting to give people a gentle nudge in the "right" direction is one thing, but obnoxious, sanctimonious withdrawal of service that has been paid for is quite another...a council's role is not to forcibly change reasonable, law-abiding behaviour to suit a particular ideology.