READER'S OPINION: Isn't Portsmouth's new road plan just vandalism?

The traffic roundabouts and verges along the A27 in Portchester are a delight to see at the moment with banks of daffodils and spring flowers.
Picture: Derek MartinPicture: Derek Martin
Picture: Derek Martin

The landscape gardeners of Fareham Borough Council should be very proud of their ‘gardens of delight’.

And it is not only in spring but most of the year they are constantly refreshing the planting with new bedding plants, flowering trees and tropical species.

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It is a terrible shame that instead of planning to enhance the entrance to Portsmouth at the bottom of Mile End Road, Portsmouth City Council is hoping to bulldoze the existing well-treed roundabouts and replace them with acres of yellow lines and traffic lights in an effort ‘to smooth out the traffic flow’.

This is a major spending priority costing the local taxpayer £15m plus another £15m of taxpayers’ money from a government grant, if they can get it.

All this is so that more traffic can be siphoned through the bottleneck, creating more exhaust pollution, and more congestion, as vehicles circulate and queue for the restricted parking spaces in the southern part of the city. How stupid is that?

Is that good value for money or just corporate vandalism?

*This letter was submitted to The News by Jerry Bamforth of Sennen Place, Port Solent