When in trouble there is a tendency to do more of the very thing that causes the problem.

Experts are currently documenting a mass species extinction, climate catastrophe, the end of the cheap energy age with peak oil extraction about to hit, and the many other ills which affect both our society and the planet we live on.

Despite this we plough on regardless. Western industrial civilisation continues to overshoot the ecological limits of the earth, as it has done for decades, and as we have known all along.

In light of this it seems almost unfair to blame Cllr Anna Waite and all of her many predecessors for the Priory Crescent road widening fiasco. They have simply done what was expected of them.

These people work within the old belief system that we can have unlimited growth on a planet with finite limits. I see much irony in the fact that this road scheme dates back to the early 70’s when we first knew full well that it was time for radical change.

Instead of powering down and scaling back, experts such as Cllr Waite built ever higher, despite the warning signs all around. Those of us who opposed the madness were ridiculed or criminalised, whilst those who perpetuated it were celebrated.

For years we have made the case for change, only to be ignored. Now it would seem that we will have no choice. Many opportunities have been squandered, whilst as late in the day as 2009 we still have to fight a dual carriageway scheme that most of the people of this town do not want.

Cllr Waite’s message has been inconsistent at best and misleading at worst in making the case for her flagship project. Maybe she too knows deep down that it makes no sense.

It’s been a hard lesson for those of us prepared to face the reality. Others will have to follow suit, and many will have to justify their inaction to coming generations.

This really should be a case of the end of the road and a new beginning – not more of the same.
Which do you choose?

Shaun Qureshi
Campaigner – Parklife
www.savepriorypark.org