Is the cost of the Rugby Road ‘improvements’ worth it?

SURELY before throwing more money at the public sector we need to be confident that they will spend it to good effect. There is a lot of talk about holding politicians to account, but very little evidence that it ever happens and they get away with it because they rely on our short memories.

In 2014/15 the county council spent a staggering, £6.5m specifically to reduce traffic congestion in Hinckley. It was this project that gave birth to the daft concept of “virtual” cycle lanes and the controversial plethora of speed cushions and speed tables around the town. So did the project fulfil its promise?

The point is that nobody knows because LCC never bothered to satisfy itself that it had achieved its objectives, explain why it had not and the reasons why it had failed. Perhaps it hoped would wouldn’t notice.

If they don’t acknowledge failures they will continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. They are now intending to spend a further £5m on Rugby Road and the only concern that our councillors have expressed appears to be over the loss of a tree or two – nothing about what exactly the expenditure would give us. When LCC was asked what time we could expect to save travelling the length of Rugby Road, they said they didn’t know – they hadn’t worked it out.

Shouldn’t statistics like this to be at the very heart of the decision making process?

Despite having been subjected to a process of “scrutiny” within the authority, nothing meaningful has been published to the public that allows us to judge for ourselves if the cost it worth it.

Frankly, if it only saves me 5 mins I’d rather the money be spent on a worthier cause, not to mention the massive disruption whilst the alterations are taking place. The project should be halted until these fundamental questions can be answered to everyone’s satisfaction, but the people who are elected to look after our best interests are quite prepared to let it carry on regardless.

JN