Letter:These streets were made for walking

From Mr Ronald Binns

Sir: Turning back the tide of modern traffic unfortunately involves a lot more than physical restraints on vehicle speed ("Battle of the bump", 15 February).

Pavement parking is a very visible national symptom of the degradation of street life and walking but both the Department of Transport and the police are bitterly opposed to a national footway parking ban.

It is precisely 10 years since the Greater London Council introduced Britain's only ban on pavement parking.The restriction was promptly subverted by local authorities exempting hundreds of streets from the ban and making footway parking legal.

Until Britain's pavements are returned to those to whom they properly belong, traffic calming initiatives alone will be quite insufficient to make our streets civilised again.

Yours faithfully,

RONALD BINNS

The Pedestrians Association

London, EC1

15 February