WITH regard to the High Street car ban, I have read nothing but spin from Colchester and Essex county councillors.

Kevin Bentley stated these traffic measures were due to coronavirus and social distancing.

They are nothing of the sort, this was an opportunity to ban cars from the High Street, using coronavirus as an opportunity to further the green agenda.

Despite the town looking like a massive roadworks site with orange barriers everywhere, the High Street is unchanged.

Mr Bentley implied on the radio it was to increase the widths of the paths, nothing has changed.

We still have our wide paths that were already suitable for self-distancing as they were, and the traffic still runs in the roadway.

In the Gazette (“How High Street car ban will keep us safe”), we even have a doctor citing that the measures have improved safety.

The truth is there has been no work done at all in the High Street apart from banning the car.

Claims that traffic is down and air quality is better are not down to any council measures, but the mere fact most of us are being paid to sit at home.

The measures are bad for business and the majority of shops are suffering.

The town is, I would estimate, about two-thirds down with footfall, which is to be expected given many shops are yet to open and people are wary to venture out.

I speak to many local traders daily, the situation is dire and unsustainable, the very time we needed to support the town to re-open was not the time, Mr Bentley, to bring in wholesale changes to the traffic flow.

I would argue that any minor benefit from the millions wasted on Ipswich Road roundabout will be simply lost to the fact that more traffic will now use Cowdray Avenue, which I trust was not factored into your modelling studies.

Gridlock beckons.

I hope I’m proved wrong.

A Wyatt

Crouch Street, Colchester