TRAFFIC PROBLEMS

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31238, 9 December 1966, Page 18

TRAFFIC PROBLEMS

One of the main problems of traffic in cities was to get out traffic which should not be there, said Aiderman J. R. Bell, of Christchurch, En gland, in the city yesterday.

Talking to members of the Christchurch Civic Trust after presenting a gavel from the Christchurch Citizens’ Association in England, he said: “In every city of the world, traffic is the main problem; towns are being choked with traffic.” He stressed that in Christchurch, England, centuriesold buildings were preserved and there was no thought of widening the main street to take extra traffic. “We have to ask ourselves in tackling this problem just how much traffic we are prepared to accommodate in our towns,” Aiderman Bell said. He said it was planned to ba ■ commercial vehicles from

the main street by the provision of service lanes at the back of business premises. This meant buying land over a five-year period, but the demolition of buildings was kept to a minimum because of the availability of land through courts and gardens. “We try to channel as much traffic away before it gets to the town,” the aiderman said. Wherever there was a green belt it seemed to be an invitation to the planners to put a road down. This was a planner’s dream.

“But I hope a road is never put through your Hagley Park,” he said. Always Growing

Aiderman Bell said traffic between Bournemouth and Christchurch averaged 15,000 cars each way daily. This traffic congested Christchurch, and the problem was growing every year. The local council had considered closing the main street to traffic and making it a pedestrian precinct, but

this created a problem in dealing with traffic from the coast. Aiderman Bell was adamant that good environmental areas should be kept clear and not sacrificed to bring traffic into the town that should not be there anyway. Presents Exchanged “We hope that this momenta will prove to be both useful at your meetings and a permanent reminder of the strong links between our town and your city,” stated a letter to the trust from the Citizens’ Association in Christchurch, England. A member of the committee fashioned the gavel. The chairman of the trust, Mr J. Oakley, presented Aiderman Bell with a copy of Samuel Butler’s “A First Year in Canterbury Settlement”