Bridge Valley Road: stolen

Parking on the Downs for a picnic last week was pretty hard. It wasn't just all the roadside parking spaces were taken up, everywhere off the road where you could get a car was full with a family or two, parked up, cooking up a barbecue. No room for more cars

Except what's this round the corner: Bridge Valley Road. Closed to through motor traffic on account of emergency wall repairs.


We understand the need for this, but resent two things. First, pedestrians and cyclists are allowed up the pavement. Second, the road is fenced off, so preventing the area being used for parking.

If some turnaround zone had been provided at the end, you could have parked cars on both sides of this road, so added room for a few hundred more families on the downs.

They could even have used the footpaths that aren't normally accessible on account of the high speed passing traffic to get up to the park.