Council's travel 'roadshow' to give you a chance to voice your concerns

BINS scattered across pavements, cars parked in cycle lanes and bus stops without dropped kerbs – these are just a few of the ‘bugbears’ city politicians want you to have your say on.
Councillors want to hear how travel can be made more accessible in Portsmouth. PICTURE:JONATHAN BRADY     062056-275Councillors want to hear how travel can be made more accessible in Portsmouth. PICTURE:JONATHAN BRADY     062056-275
Councillors want to hear how travel can be made more accessible in Portsmouth. PICTURE:JONATHAN BRADY 062056-275

Portsmouth councillors will take their transport panel ‘on the road’ in a bid to attract responses from all members of the community about how travelling in the city can be more accessible.

Meetings will be held in community centres across Portsmouth in the coming months to find solutions.

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At a traffic, environment and community safety scrutiny panel held recently members agreed to seek feedback through public meetings and surveys.

Chairman of the panel, Councillor Simon Bosher, said: ‘We might have to decamp to somewhere else to get better engagement – like a sort of roadshow.

‘We should get out into the community first and make sure it is spread around the city. We could go to Paulsgrove, Southsea and somewhere in the middle of the city too.’

Councillors discussed some of the most common problems experienced by residents.

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‘Pavement obstacles need to be cleared up,’ Cllr Bosher said.

‘And temporary pavement clutter is something we need to address. It is my biggest bugbear where I live. We can have brown bins, green bins and black bins out collected on the same day.

‘When they are put back it’s a scattergun approach that leaves it a complete mess, certainly for elderly people and visually impaired people who can’t deal with that. Actually returning the bins to where they came from would be a solution.’

It comes as part of the council’s equality and diversity strategy, which aims to improve accessibility in the city as one priority.

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Cllr Bosher added: ‘There’s great stuff already happening like extending the disabled bus pass times but if somebody who is disabled can’t get to the bus stop or get on to the bus because of pavement clutter it’s pointless.’

For Cllr Hugh Mason cycle safety was key. He said: ‘On cycle routes it’s very common to find that people park in the cycle lanes forcing people out into the dangerous road.’

Information on public meetings will be released at a later date.

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