WE have recently been informed that at a recent meeting of the Devizes Town Centre joint member working party, it was resolved to abandon the scheme for a 20mph zone in Long Street and the Market Place, Devizes.

However, the scheme will still go ahead in Hillworth Road and Station Road. This decision was not unanimous.

We understand that this decision will be put to the next meeting of the regulatory committee of Wiltshire County Council later.

In our opinion this decision is a very retrograde step.

Long Street can be a very dangerous place to cross at almost any time of the day, especially in the rush hour and when visibility is reduced during the winter, as motor traffic frequently ignores even the present 30mph limit. Elderly pedestrians and mothers with prams have difficulty in crossing as there are no regulated crossings or vehicle speed reduction provisions. Speeding traffic constitutes a danger to pedestrians in the Market Place for most of the day.

We are not aware of the arguments put forward in favour of abandoning this scheme but, whatever they were, we feel this decision should be reversed in the interests of people living in Long Street and the Market Place and all those pedestrians and cyclists using these thoroughfares.

P NORTON AND J NORTON

Devizes