I REFER to the letter of May 14, ‘David Renard says Swindon’s voice will continue to be heard’.

The Conservatives had good election results across Swindon but the one he referred to which interested me was that of Cathy Martyn, who was elected as councillor for Wroughton and Wichelstowe.

As a resident who is situated in the so-called ‘Wroughton infants’ school safety zone’ on Wharf Road, Wroughton, I was annoyed to see it being used as an item in Coun Martyn’s election leaflet to promote action on road and footpath safety.

Item 4 in the leaflet showed a photograph of Coun Martyn by Wroughton Infant School Safety Zone sign, with the heading ‘Safer Roads and Pavements’, stating the Conservatives will continue to campaign to make these safer.

Coun Martyn must be unaware of the history and extent of the ongoing problems on this stretch of road – especially during school drop off and pick-up times.

I can assure Coun Martyn that within this so-called safety zone, vehicles speed, park on double yellow lines, park on grass verges adjacent to double yellow lines, park and obstruct footpaths, do U-turns in front of oncoming traffic and mount the pavement while doing so, cause damage to footpaths, grass verges and kerbs, reverse into residents drives to complete turns, obstruct dropped kerbs, put children in and out of their cars on the road side, swing car doors open in front of oncoming traffic, park across the school entrance and park in the bus stop bay.

Cyclists also create hazards for pedestrians by using the footpath and this stretch of road suffers from poor maintenance.

Action taken by Swindon Council to resolve these problems has been minimal, ad-hoc, ineffective and even exacerbated certain problems.

I have correspondence with the council (including a formal complaint to the council ‘s chief executive) which outlines all of these problems and dates back five or six years.

Should she wish to, Ms Martyn is welcome to view this information. Alternatively, she could speak to her colleagues, councillors Brian Ford and Wayne Crabbe, who have been fully aware of these problems for a substantial length of time.

I hope Coun Martyn will be able to grasp the significance of these problems and use her new position to do something to resolve them.

However, based on previous experience, I won’t be holding my breath.

K KANE Wharf Road, Wroughton