IIRC one of Richard Branson's comments when he was angling to become
Mayor of London went something like, "I'd grass over 1/3 of London's
roads". Wholly impractical, where would people park? How would they
get to their houses? Well if you look at Manorgate Road in Kingston or
roads near The Fountain in New Malden you can see that radical changes
to the road surface, containers and trees and grass, can make the
place much nicer without inconveniencing anyone.

I live in a cul-de-sac. My usual walk takes me into Road A which is
open at both ends, thence into Road B which is also open at both ends,
thence to the main road. There is always a queue on the main road and
roads A & B are always busy. Why? Because local people instead of
joining the back of the queue duck into the back streets to emerge at
the front of the queue. They are rat runs.

Recent road works on the main road meant Road B was closed at the
junction. From being a busy, dangerous noisy rat-run, it overnight
became a tranquil pleasant backwater.

At either end of Road B are schools. They have trouble recruiting
teachers because there is no affordable housing round here.

The solution?

At every "T" junction where the upright of the "T" is a road open at
either end, close the road permanently at the junction and give the
end of the road, to a distance of neighbouring houses + garden, to a
local school to fill the gap with affordable housing for their staff.

House prices in Road B and A rise because the roads become nicer
places, the main road is no busier, just fairer, the school gets funds
from selling off or renting the property and keeps its staff, who are
themselves better off.

Everyone's a winner?

On 2 Oct 2004 01:15:49 -0700, (Troy Steadman)
wrote:

At every "T" junction where the upright of the "T" is a road open at
either end, close the road permanently at the junction and give the
end of the road, to a distance of neighbouring houses + garden, to a
local school to fill the gap with affordable housing for their staff.

OT for utl, but I don't see subsidised purchase of houses doing
anything other than subsidising the ridiculous growth in house prices.
Prices would soon drop by simple market forces if no-one could afford
them. For that reason, I am massively against shared-ownership
schemes and their ilk.

I could therefore only support an idea like the above if it was true
social housing, available for non-profit rent only, with no right to
buy.

Neil

--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
To e-mail use neil at the above domain

"Troy Steadman" wrote in message
m...

At either end of Road B are schools. They
have trouble recruiting teachers because
there is no affordable housing round here.

The solution?

At every "T" junction where the upright of the "T"
is a road open at either end, close the road
permanently at the junction and give the
end of the road, to a distance of neighbouring
houses + garden, to a local school to fill the gap
with affordable housing for their staff.

House prices in Road B and A rise because the
roads become nicer places, the main road is no
busier, just fairer, the school gets funds from
selling off or renting the property and keeps its staff,
who are themselves better off.

Everyone's a winner?

Except the people who live by the T, who would have their vista destroyed
and the value of their property slashed, and to top it all would gain a
teacher as a neighbour

--
John Rowland - Spamtrapped
Transport Plans for the London Area, updated 2001
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro...69/tpftla.html
A man's vehicle is a symbol of his manhood.
That's why my vehicle's the Piccadilly Line -
It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes

"John Rowland" wrote in message
...
"Troy Steadman" wrote in message
m...

At either end of Road B are schools. They
have trouble recruiting teachers because
there is no affordable housing round here.

The solution?

At every "T" junction where the upright of the "T"
is a road open at either end, close the road
permanently at the junction and give the
end of the road, to a distance of neighbouring
houses + garden, to a local school to fill the gap
with affordable housing for their staff.

House prices in Road B and A rise because the
roads become nicer places, the main road is no
busier, just fairer, the school gets funds from
selling off or renting the property and keeps its staff,
who are themselves better off.

Everyone's a winner?

Except the people who live by the T, who would have their vista destroyed
and the value of their property slashed, and to top it all would gain a
teacher as a neighbour

And they'd face a much longer journey to work, having to go the wrong way
until the next street - or the next one after that, until they found a road
that was actually open in the direction they wanted to travel.

All this would do is to force more traffic onto the roads that are
designated as through roads, removing any redundancy and resilience in the
road system to cope with traffic jams caused by sheer weight of traffic
(including the extra that would have used the back streets) or by unplanned
problems such as road works or an accident.

If you live on a road, traffic will go past it - live with that fact!

"John Rowland" wrote in message

"Troy Steadman" wrote in message
m...

Everyone's a winner?

Except the people who live by the T, who would have their vista destroyed

Their vista changes from a busy-ish road to a quiet garden.

and the value of their property slashed

If the new houses are crummy but why shouldn't they be better houses
which improve the neighbourhood?

and to top it all would gain a
teacher as a neighbour

LOL

I hadn't spotted the other Cul-de-Sacking thread and apologise for
turning this into a one-subject ng.





--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

In message ,
Martin Underwood writes
And they'd face a much longer journey to work, having to go the wrong
way until the next street - or the next one after that, until they
found a road that was actually open in the direction they wanted to
travel.

Only if they went by car.

--
Martin @ Strawberry Hill

On 2 Oct 2004 01:15:49 -0700, (Troy Steadman)
wrote:

The solution?

At every "T" junction where the upright of the "T" is a road open at
either end, close the road permanently at the junction and give the
end of the road, to a distance of neighbouring houses + garden, to a
local school to fill the gap with affordable housing for their staff.

At every *other* one, surely!

Charlie

--
Remove NO-SPOO-PLEASE from my email address to reply
Please send no unsolicited email or foodstuffs

Charlie Pearce wrote in message . ..
On 2 Oct 2004 01:15:49 -0700, (Troy Steadman)
wrote:

The solution?

At every "T" junction where the upright of the "T" is a road open at
either end, close the road permanently at the junction and give the
end of the road, to a distance of neighbouring houses + garden, to a
local school to fill the gap with affordable housing for their staff.

At every *other* one, surely!

Charlie

Huh? There are two ends to every road that is open at two ends, so I
would suggest the most suitable end be chosen.

"Troy Steadman" wrote in message
om...
Charlie Pearce wrote in
message . ..
On 2 Oct 2004 01:15:49 -0700, (Troy Steadman)
wrote:

The solution?

At every "T" junction where the upright of the "T" is
a road open at either end, close the road permanently
at the junction and give the end of the road, to a
distance of neighbouring houses + garden, to a local
school to fill the gap with affordable housing for their staff.

At every *other* one, surely!

Huh? There are two ends to every road that is open at two
ends, so I would suggest the most suitable end be chosen.

I suspect that crossroads are a lot more dangerous than T-junctions, so your
idea would work better if the T-junctions were left alone and the crossroads
were so altered.

--
John Rowland - Spamtrapped
Transport Plans for the London Area, updated 2001
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro...69/tpftla.html
A man's vehicle is a symbol of his manhood.
That's why my vehicle's the Piccadilly Line -
It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes