Well done getting public meetings!

Well done Cllr Martin Vye (Lib Dem) on securing an assurance from Kent Highways that public meetings will be held in order that the people of Canterbury can have their say on the future of the road layout around the Westgate Towers (Time To Have Say On Towers Traffic System Proposals, Kentish Gazette, August 15).

As there’s a huge amount of interest in this may I suggest the Dane John as a suitable venue with the Bandstand as the stage for the proponents of the trial?

October weather might mean brollies are needed but it shouldn’t be too much of a problem as this promises to be a quick and decisive meeting. Lynette Coleman Pinetree Avenue, Canterbury

Living 150 yards from the Westgate Towers I have watched with interest and some amusement the progress of the traffic scheme.

It seems that we have accidentally ended up with the least bad solution and should not waste any more time and money in “improvements”. Traffic congestion is less than it was before and during the scheme.

The Towers are no longer at risk from damage by buses and the widened pavements have improved the environment at the lower end of St Dunstan’s.

There only remains a little work to be done in improving pedestrian safety at the junctions of St Dunstans with North Lane and Station Road and replacing the ugly red and white plastic blocks at the south side of the Towers.

Regarding the make-up of any steering group reviewing the scheme, while bus companies clearly need to be consulted councillors should remember that bus companies should be providing a service to the public, not vice versa. Also bus companies don’t have any votes in local elections. Tom Webster Linden Chase, Linden Grove, Canterbury

I am not hopeful of a sensible outcome to the promised consultation on the future of the roads system around the Westgate Towers.

This is not because of any doubts about the motives or competence of those involved but simply because they are addressing the wrong question.

There can be no solution to traffic problems in this area without substantial improvements elsewhere in the city that reduce the demand for traffic to use the Westgate Towers.

A road bridge over the railway to the east of Canterbury West station perhaps, maybe a link route from Whitstable Road to Harbledown and onto the A2 southbound, or even the replacement of all pedestrian crossings with bridges or tunnels in Lower Bridge Street and Military Road.

These may all be all pipe-dreams but without something on this scale no solution will be found to reducing traffic in the Westgate Towers area of town. Harry Macdonald Churchill Road, Canterbury