WITH reference to the article in the Bolton Evening News on Thursday, January 16, regarding the proposed implementation of traffic calming measures on both Ainsworth Lane and Hulton Lane.

I would strongly urge all local residents who live either on or near these roads to check in advance the probable true implications of the schemes and to take a drive along Highfield Road in Farnworth. (Or, even worse, a journey on the Number 501 Bus.)

The article stated that on both of the roads concerned, "Speed limits will remain at 30mph and the flat-topped humps, which are 10cm high, are designed to allow vehicles to pass over them at this speed." Similar statements were given to me when I first enquired about the details of the Highfield Road scheme. However, following concerns expressed by First Bus, it was stated that the height would be reduced to a maximum of just 7cm.

This scheme has now been built and I do not believe that any car could comfortably travel at any more than 20mph along the route, while buses are reduced to crawling at between 10 and 15mph (I note that bus stops are clearly visible in both of the photographs used in the Bolton Evening News article). The only vehicles which could travel along Highfield Road at 30mph would be hovercrafts and hang gliders. One final point that the residents of these areas (and all people who might have a need to visit Hulton Hospital) should bear in mind is that Cllr Harkin will only be asked to provide "approval in principle" for implementation of some kind of scheme. The final details of the two schemes will be decided after this, in isolation, by the council's Highway's and Engineering Division, with apparently, no subsequent accountability.

If the experience at Highfield Road is anything to go by, none of the assurances given by the council and its representatives in advance of construction can be accepted at face value, and once the scheme is built, it will then be too late to change it.

While I acknowledge the statement that most of the consultation responses received by John Evans are likely to have been positive, these positive statements probably anticipate implementation of an adequately designed scheme, not an unknown scheme of any design. I would again urge all residents to see for themselves what the council's Highway's and Engineering Division seem to consider is an adequate and "bus friendly" 30mph scheme.

Craig Howarth

Caldbeck Drive

Farnworth, Bolton