and Gloucester Road now queue extensively and the right-hand lane on the Gloucester Road as it joins Tewkesbury Road is to be avoided. And all this additional stop-start driving increases pollution. The signage used for implementation of the closure has been rightly criticised. In my experience, signs are effective in reinforcing a message, but poor in getting the message across in the first place. If you are expecting to see a No Motor Vehicles sign, then you will see it. However, if it is introduced on a road which was previously open or your visitor satnav is saying it’s open, then it is easy to miss it. You have to make it very distinctive, and CBC/GCC have failed to do this. You cannot glibly state that people should know the Highway Code. This signage has not been improved and people still fail to see it.
As we now impose fines on people who drive along the previously open inner ring at Boots Corner, it is reasonable to expect visitors to regard Cheltenham less favourably. Similarly, if you wished to visit John Lewis from out of town, then the route to the car park is now torturous, unless you come from the north. Whilst the small area by Boots Corner has been an improvement for pedestrians, the net experience for pedestrians in the shared section of the High Street and the Promenade is worse. And, if you are a visitor and you make the mistake of driving into town, then have fun finding your way round; there’s nothing to help you l
December 2018 | www. punchline-gloucester .com | 7
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