SIR,

Four years ago the Sustainable Travel Group of Monmouth Partnership Forum, working with Action 50+, set out to make Monnow Street a better place for pedestrians and, in particular, those with special needs – the disabled, the infirm, parents with young children.

It soon discovered this was a complex task – what is good for the physically disabled is not so good for the visually impaired, what is good for the pedestrian is not so good for the motorist. Compromises are needed so that all can be accommodated.

To this end Hamilton-Baillie Associates, eminent specialists in urban street design, addressed two well-publicised and well-attended public meetings in 2007/8 on the principles involved and on specific proposals.

There was huge enthusiasm for the plans. At last we could make Monnow Street a better and safer place for all pedestrians, and a better place for businesses.

Motorists would slow down and pay some courteous regard to other users in our main shopping street.

The motorist is not king here – the space is for the amenable use of all – and it is pedestrians, not motorists, on which the street's businesses depend.

In the intervening period, much work has been done by groups in the community and by Monmouthshire County Council officers to achieve this end.

But now we hear that two county councillors who have been to none of the meetings over the past four years have decided, in ignorance of the background, the reasoning, the design and the facts, to put a stop to the plans.

The job of councillors is to represent the community, not disregard its needs – and in this case these needs have been identified through a well-publicised democratic process allowing for the voice of all to be heard.

On the other hand, the project has been abandoned by the decision of two councillors who do not even represent Monmouth.

We ask that the decision be reconsidered and a final one made in the full knowledge of the scheme as a whole and in an open and democratic manner.

It is ironic that while plans for a shopmobility scheme are well advanced, a stop has been put to redesigning the pavements so that electric wheelchairs can be used to get from one end of town to the other.

Haydn Cullen-Jones

(Chair, Transition Monmouth)