When will the Cumbria Highways honour their promise?

Last December Andrew Moss , Head of Cumbria Highways, made his promise that Union Lane would be completed "Early in the new year" :    it is now June and still the junction with Stanley Street  is unfinished.

• It has still an unfinished road surface.
• It still has no road markings.
• There is now a ramp to negotiate.
• Lives, especially those of inexperienced young children, part of large families with push chairs are being put at risk as they attempt to travel every morning to school,and then again at home time.
• By contrast there are many over eighty year olds that are now very waryof using this intersection because of the chaotic situation left by CCC Highways department.
• There is substantially more traffic because of the new estate up the lane.
• Contrary to the planning agreement, Persimmons have allowed their delivery lorries to access their building site aggravating the situation at this extremely dangerous junction.These vehicles have stopped using their agreed access through the Health centre
• Almost daily there is danger of a serious road accident  with cars turning up the lane round a blind corner and meeting approaching cars having to negotiate past dangerously parked vehicles.

• Because of the lack of road markings the end of the road is being used for  parking, sometimes by large vans leaving visibility very difficult.
• Several people have left notes on parked vehicles to point out the danger of the way cars and vans have been parked, warning of near head on accidents that they only just avoided.
• Neighbours have been left to try to regulate this dangerous intersection themselves.
• Local people feel deserted because of the disinterest of their councillors: where is County Cllr James Airey when you want him?
• District Cllr Helen Irving and local Town Cllrs Colin Pickthall, Margaret Hornby and again Irving are unavailable.
• This is a vary serious situation. Who is going to do their job and see this endless disruption and chaos brought to an end.
• Are people that use this intersection: young children, the aged  and regular road users  being seriously let down by incompetent officers and councillors?

a pedestrian points to the ramp across the road that they tropped over

Thestate of this intersection :notice the obstructively parked car because there  are no road markings

How temporary is "temporary"?

parking at night

at night again

Furness Tradition brings people into the town from all over

And a what great kind of people they are.

They are for the most part very people oriented with a great sense of fun and living life to the full. They are people of all ages, sizes, backgrounds and seem to generally fit for their age. They love acquiring learning, sharing and developing skills of older generations. They are motivated to put in hours of practice  for the pure joy of doing things because they want to. They are for the most part fit mentally but also fit physically.

These are :

The type of person that worked together during the last world war to raise morale when the country was in imminent disaster from being invaded by the Germans.
The kind of people that set sail in their small boats to bring back the troops when they were being driven into the sea in Normandy.
The kind of people that, when faced with adversity instead of wingeing and complaining, get out their musical instruments, write a song about it or narrate a story of knights performing heroic deeds to raise our spirits and 'laugh disaster in the face'. Others use a craft or art to add something worthwhile to our lives.
The kind of people that go out of their way to help others when needed

They bring a breath of fresh air to the town in contrast to the sad commercialisation of the town by people hell bent in promoting 'festivals' that make money.
They encourage people like themselves in our community to take activities like the Lantern Procession out of the hands of power seeking individuals and return them back into the hands once again of a community group.
They see through the hype from government encouraged  Royal celebrations,
Olympic torch relay nonsense,
Football and Tennis mania and even the
'Cumbria in Bloom' farce
They encouraging very local 'bottom up' activities by little groups of nobodies who get together without 'official guidance' and do their own thing.
They are good at conveying a strong message in the subtle ways of song writing, poetry, fiction, art and craft - the things we all value.

These are the kind of people and activities that are going to be needed in the future years

when the bulk of the population who follow the Red Top Media continue to blame others for the mess we are heading for
because of Global Warming,
because of Economic Disaster,
because of the Population Explosion,
because of Ethnic Cleansing and turmoil taking place in countries like Northern Ireland, Syria, Lybia, Egypt, India, Afghanistan,  Iraq etc and
because of the "What we need is growth " Brigade at a time when the world's resources are stretched to the limit.

In contrast to people here in Ulverston who seek to find fault with any attempt to be positive, they just get on quietly and make music, dance, make beautiful things and celebrate the good things in life.

Hopefully a bit of their positive outlook will rub off and encourage each one of us.

Long live the Traditions of the past as they are carried forward by the young people of the present here thankfully in Furness