SIR – It was a pleasant surprise to see contactors placing bollards on the paved area on the right of Church Street below the steps up to the church.

SIR - It was a pleasant surprise to see contactors placing bollards on the paved area on the right of Church Street below the steps up to the church.

I thought this would avoid cars and lorries using it as a parking and unloading area, which would prevent the pavement being a hazard to pedestrians who either used the street or squeeze past the vehicles, also save on the repairs that are carried out to the damaged paver bricks.

It was with dismay that I read the headlines in the Herald last Friday (Anger at bollards, Herald, April 18) and the quotations from about five traders in Church Street that the bollards will affect trade.

It is not correct that people park cars on the pavement for a considerable amount of time each day, when people use the town they use the car parks and authorised parking areas.

Being a regular reader of Councillor Stuart Hughes' blog, I was aghast to read that he has agreed to pay from his locality budget £10,000 to have the loading bay put in, in place of part of the paved area. Surely Stuart would be able to use much of his funding for a number of projects in the town for the betterment of all, not just one scheme.

Maybe the traders in Church Street and Sidmouth Town Council could offer some funding to make this proposal come to fruition?

A loading bay would be of help to keep the flow of traffic in that Market Square area. In the short term maybe a portable sign could be placed at the end of Church Street to advise drivers of the unloading and they would then be able to use Prospect Place to gain access to the Esplanade and not cause a back-up of traffic.

It is vital we have a structured approach to improve the traffic management of the town.

Last week we observed an articulated lorry, followed by a very large coach, make its way down Fore Street. The only way this could happen was for the vehicle to mount the pavement, causing those pedestrians, wheelchair and pushchair users to move smartly out of the way to avoid being hit. Your paper rightly made reference to people tripping over broken paving slabs recently.

The bollards have not stopped parking on the pavements; cars regularly use the area for parking.

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