On the Redbridge Sky Ride I picked up a copy of the borough’s lovely leaflet about why walking is good for you. One of the reasons given is ‘Relieves stress’.
Oh, I don’t think so. The woman with the kids shown on the cover of the leaflet would get quite stressed walking the streets of car-sick Redbridge, where obstructive pavement parking is commonplace. The lawless-driver-friendly council absolutely refuses to deal with it (I know, I’ve tried ringing them up). The car supremacist cops in Redbridge are likewise indifferent to enforcing laws designed to protect pedestrians. It’s an offence to obstruct a footway but Britain's finest couldn’t give a toss.
(Below) Cowley Road
Footnote
Redbridge has some 1,800 streets in comparison with Waltham Forest’s 1,300 but the Conservative council there is far more reluctant to enforce parking restrictions than in Labour Waltham Forest.
In Redbridge 96,000 penalty charge notices were issued in 2005/6, in Waltham Forest 153,000.
