Fed up with council efforts to ease jams

After 20 years of sending letters pointing out the sheer, brainless stupidity of our council, with regard to traffic congestion, I decided several years ago to stop. Nobody else, including the Chronicle, seemed to notice that whatever the council introduced, it always made the situation worse. Council initiatives include London Road bus lane, Bus Gate, Claverton Street, Railway Place, Queen Square, Marlborough Buildings and Sydney Gardens, to name just a few. I defy any reader or councillor to tell me that such initiatives have improved congestion and pollution. I have refrained from commenting upon the Clean Air Zone as firstly I was laughing too much and secondly I knew it would not go through because of the cost to, say a nurse who lived in Batheaston, worked in the RUH and drove a sixyear-old diesel. However, now that the Zone is being altered to cater for such nurses, the council just cannot leave it alone and I am astounded to read that they intend to install two sets of traffic lights at both Chapel Row/queen Square and Queen Square Place/ Queen Square. As the current Queen Square lights already cause serious congestion, and thereby air pollution, the council should actually be considering taking these lights out altogether and re-installing the traffic island that was previously used by pedestrians to safely cross the road. The council says that these new lights, roughly costing £250,000 per set, will be removed when vehicle emissions improve. Yeah right! How on earth will emissions possibly improve when there will be a lot more stationary polluting traffic adding to an already congested piece of road ? Also, please do not get me started on the ludicrous idea of trams in our narrow streets. Wyn Rees Bath