Traffic policy can’t drift on

I refer to Alex Claridge’s interview with Simon Cook about the merits of a congestion charge.

I understand that the introduction of a congestion charge would be controversial. Certainly it is not the only policy open to the city council in the fight to improve air quality and reduce peak traffic flows. I find it strange though that he characterises this option as “a last resort”.

I recall Councillor Cook in the spring of this year seemed to regard a Canterbury carfree day as a last resort, or at least as a matter on which he preferred to defer to the county council.

Our city is in urgent need of measures to reduce traffic congestion and make walking and cycling more attractive. Letting local policy drift till 2026, or worse till 2040, on the pretext of waiting for external factors to change, is too complacent. If Councillor Cook does not regard roaduse charging as a viable option, may we please see the council’s list of alternative measures, accompanied by target numbers, costings (though some options would be self-funding), steps for collaboration with the county council (where needed), and dates by which the measures will be implemented? Peter R. Styles St Augustine’s Road, Canterbury urgent CT scan. My wife was on the system awaiting an appointment which had not been marked as urgent so it required the receptionist at the CT scanning centre to mark the scan as urgent, despite the faxed request being sent.

She was sent to the radiology centre who could arrange for an appointment or an immediate scan.

There, the receptionist informed us that Margate arranges the appointments.

The receptionist did not think to either arrange an appointment or an emergency scan.

We went to the Urgent Care Centre only to be informed that it could not arrange for a scan as it had no doctor.

The staff said they could only advise us to visit the William Harvey or the QEQM at Margate so a doctor could assess my wife and possibly send her back to the K&C for the scan.

My wife said she would wait until everything got so bad we would have to phone 101 or 999 for an ambulance.

The staff, at the K&C, were sympathetic and friendly. However, it would appear there is no longer any cohesion in the K&C. Dissemination of information and procedures and the checking of knowledge and compliance, in any organisation, is the responsibility of management.

It would appear the management of the K&C has been and is sadly lacking.

I would add that my wife received excellent and prompt emergency care, despite having no medical records, in the Sydney hospital. B Butler New House Close, Canterbury announces that it’s creating a ‘healthy environment’, you don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

It sounds like something George Orwell could have dreamt up. David Topple Churchill Road, Canterbury