Sir, - As one of a minority of residents in Mount Merrion who have not seen fit to contribute the modest annual sum of £6 to join the local residents' association and participate in its general meetings, Mr Dermot C. Clarke (July 21st) could, perhaps, be forgiven for being unaware of the intense pressure from the vast majority of his neighbours which finally compelled the local authority to implement a traffic-calming scheme for this exceptionally large estate of some 1,500 houses.
During my 10 years on the association's executive committee (including five years as chairman), the burning issue at each a.g.m. has been the speed and volume of rat-running traffic detouring through this estate. I know from my longer-serving colleagues that this had also been a major issue for at least another 10 years before that.
Now that the current phase two of our traffic-calming scheme is nearing completion, Mr Clarke may be interested to know that there is a very active lobby by his fellow residents on Wilson Road, Mount Merrion, to ensure their road is included in the upcoming phase three of the scheme. On behalf of the association, I thank them for their patience and forbearance while other roads in the estate, which had been subject to even greater traffic pressure, were being dealt with first.
Naturally, everybody would prefer if all drivers would heed exhortations to drive carefully in residential areas and have a care for elderly pedestrians and young children without the need for physical reminders such as ramps, roundabouts, traffic islands etc. In the absence of that ideal world - and recognising the virtual impossibility of pleasing all of the people all of the time - the association has settled for the reasonable approach of acting on a clearly expressed mandate from the overwhelming majority of residents in Mount Merrion. - Yours, etc.,
John Murphy,Mount Merrion Residents' Association.