LETTER: We should learn valuable lessons from lockdown

There is huge concern about the environmental impact of a town development yet we need to take away through traffic from the centre of town, as people are still cutting through rather than use the eastern route around the town. Can I make a radical suggestion ?

If the eastern route and the A5 were upgraded to a dual carriageway all around the town then it would be quicker travel as an option. Then to pedestrianize the Welsh bridge – thus preventing the possibility of cutting through the picturesque centre of town where the tourist trade is concentrated.

The environmental impact on the town would be hugely beneficial and has to be a cheaper alternative, both financial and environmental, as the proposed road crosses untouched green land with considerable local wildlife groups actively against it. It would also lessen the pressure of traffic on the three roads which are used to cut through to the town.

All town traffic could still park in the Frankwell car park. It would involve a slight mileage increase for all bypass traffic, but the other benefits surely outweigh each person's individual contribution by making an eight-mile detour rather than crawling through a residential area? It would also help the bottleneck under the bridge near the station where the air quality is barely legal at rush hour.

I understand there would be costs to the SCC as there would be less development – fewer houses – less council income. Surely it is time our environment and the preservation of the historic Welsh Bridge and the buildings around the station area – are worth the council's consideration.

The improvement in our environment during lockdown should awaken us to think more radically about the speed and convenience we seem to value above our quality of life?

Virginia Smith, Bicton Heath

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