WILTSHIRE County Council is proposing to install lighting along the Kennet and Avon canal towpath, and readers should know that they have only until January 21 to express their views on the subject.
As I understand it, the scheme would run between London Road Bridge and Park Bridge (Quakers Walk), and would involve 22 white lights on four-metre columns at 26- metre intervals. The reasoning
behind the scheme is unclear, but it may go back to a focus group "consultation" meeting in 2000 on the local Transportation Plan, from which everyone's ideas on yellow slips were picked over later back at County Hall.
If you are unhappy with this scheme (or happy for that matter) you need to act quickly, to get your
opinions to Andrew White, group manager, traffic and road safety, Wiltshire County Council, Trowbridge BA14 8JD or email andrewwyatt@wiltshire.gov.uk.
On behalf of the Trust for Devizes, my feelings are that this is a bad idea. It will cost money which is desperately needed in other areas; it will industrialise what is a rural and wildlife environment; it will cause light pollution and nuisance to neighbouring residents; and it will encourage night-time vandalism and break ins. I imagine there will also be health and safety liabilities, relating to drowning risks among those attracted to the towpath after dark by the lighting.
If you support these objections, please write to Mr Wyatt telling him so, as otherwise the next thing will be the extension of the scheme, to light up the rest of the canal.
Jeff Ody
Trust for Devizes
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