sir – I really hope that the council’s expensive Newtown Road bus lane project will improve the flow of traffic in the area, but I doubt it. At best, it might knock a minute or two off the time it takes the buses to get from the top of the Newtown Road bank and the hospital. It will not solve the real problem of Newtown Road being prone to congestion – it is a narrow hill, with traffic lights and a railway bridge at the bottom.

Either way, the few seconds the bus lane might take off the journey will not be a sufficient reason for many people to use the bus rather than the car, so it is difficult to imagine that the bus lane will improve traffic flows.

The council has wasted a lot of our money, which it could have spent elsewhere, or taken off future tax bills. It has clearly angered many people in the area by felling the trees and taking away the parking spaces. It is difficult to see what positive result the council actually expects from this scheme. The council clearly needs to economise, and I would suggest the bus lane scheme would be a very good place to start.

STEVE DAVIS
Worcester