FIRST Essex County Council wasted taxpayers’ money on a bollard at the entrance to Lewis Gardens (which incidentally has already been damaged) and putting up signs on East Hill advising drivers of the unsuitability of doing U-turns.

Now it seems Essex County Council is not only intent on wasting more money by putting up new signs, but also by issuing a traffic regulation order will transfer the costs on to the police budget and lumber them with the responsibility of enforcement.

A police budget, which, as has been widely reported, is already overstretched dealing with real crimes.

Realistically, unless Essex Police intend to have an officer on site all day, it’s hard to see how the regulation can be enforced.

Even if they did as has been mentioned before, they could not prevent drivers either going to the end of Lewis Gardens doing a completely legal three-point turn and coming back out on to East Hill or doing the same in Roman Road.

Given the extra distance these manoeuvres would involve and the extra pollution generated, it’s hard to see how this would sit well with the council’s climate emergency.

The only reason all this is happening is because nobody at Essex County Council has the courage to admit that the so-called bus lane going from High Street into Queen Street is unnecessary.

The reason being that the whole point of a bus lane is that they allow buses to progress unhindered, whereas in this instance they are stopped by traffic lights while a dozen of more vehicles come from East Hill into Queens Street before they are allowed to progress.

And if lucky the vehicles that preceded them will not get stuck at traffic lights in Queen Street allowing them to continue on their journey and actually keep to the timetable.

Perhaps the time has come to call it a day on this anachronism.

Richard Hart

Harwich Road, Colchester

Let drivers go down Queen Street

I still fail to see why it is considered to be a good idea to discourage cars going down Queen Street, if only to use the only access to the Priory Street Car Park.

Does it not strike our councillors that the reason drivers are using alternative means to avoid the High Street into Queen Street bus lane is because they actually need to go down Queen Street?

What will happen when the socalled ‘Cultural Quarter’ is built - will there be no cars?

I am not hugely surprised that Cllr Kevin Bentley won’t respond even to his fellow councillors.

I emailed him over six months ago on this Queen Street matter and still await acknowledgement!

On the subject of potholes, I am informed that there are 30 or so just as one drives along Rowhedge Road on the ‘Welcome to Rowhedge’ sign bend.

Cars can zig-zag, but large vehicles plough through them, making them worse.

They aren’t even colour marked for repair. Don’t our councillors visit Rowhedge?

Paul Wright

Regent Street, Rowhedge

Abolishing Queen St bus lane will solve the problem

When will Essex Highways realise that the drivers who perform U-turns in lower High street are not doing it for fun (Gazette, February 12, “Drivers facing prosecution for dangerous East Hill U-turns”).

It’s because it is the only way they can approach the Queen Street and Priory Street area if they live in the west of the town.

As far as I am aware, it is not illegal to perform a 3-point turn in a road as long as it is safe to do so.

I suggest we get rid of the unofficial “bus station” outside the Curzon cinema, which is a designer traffic jam in its own right and then abolish the High Street/Queen Street bus lane.

Result - the good burghers of Colchester would be able to go about their business in an orderly fashion.

John Clifton

West Mersea