Madam,

Like all residents of DÔl-y-bont, I have noticed that a previously damaged bench seat immediately adjacent to the road at the intersection of the two slip roads entering DÔl-y-bont from the Borth/Llandre road has been replaced. The previous bench, of concrete structure was demolished by an oil delivery lorry and the owner’s insurance company contributed to the replacement.

The new bench is made of steel and painted a rusty colour and the name of the village is incorporated in an un-highlighted obscure font.

If you sit on the bench your toes will touch or be on the tarmac road. At this point the road is within the 40mph zone before it increases to 60mph through the rest of the village. From the seat you can see approximately 20 metres into the village, the same distance that vehicles leaving the 60mph zone have before they spot the seat.

Whereas, some people may consider the seat to be of a ‘grand’ design, you wouldn’t sit your grandparents or grandchildren on on seat situated so close to lorries and large agricultural vehicles. It is not the first time that the seat has been demolished by traffic.

A bit of holistic thinking and health and safety risk assessment would have seen the opportunity of replacing the seat in a more social position within the village where users would not be so close to the large wheels of the lorries and tractors which regularly use the road. An ideal place, the widest part of the village road and with a 40 to 50 metre visual display for traffic in either direction, would be by the village notice board, the defibrillator, and opposite the post box. This is probably the safest part of the road where children play during the summer and an ideal meeting area.

If the community council put a sign outlining the dangers of passing traffic on the existing seat, I would be willing to make and position a new seat in my suggested area, free of charge, over the winter months.

Yours etc,

Phil Turner-Wright, DÔl-y-bont.

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