Wonderful wands?
CIL
12 Mar 2021
The increasingly tatty (and in some cases, battered) wands installed along Valley Road, Ipswich after the first lock-down, are set to stay for a further 6 months following an internal decision by the County Council.
As with the initial set-up decision, this did not involve consultation with local Councillors or residents.
The wands, funded by Government, were intended to encourage safe cycling. We argued that investng in and maintaining well-marked and safe Cycle surfaces, free of debris and damage would have been a better use of the money.
The wands have made it harder to keep the cycle lanes clean and debris-free as the mechanical cleaner cannot operate and they have to be manually swept at extra cost.