Today is the day! that the problems caused by the absence of double yellow lines in Malpas High Street shall be resolved and put to bed.The pain, many of you must witness and observe through your windows on a daily basis due to the High Street having no yellow lines must be the defining reason for the term ‘window pain’.Now there will be representatives from the opposing committee by the truckload over the forthcoming weeks accusing us of wanting a ‘ridiculous’ idea. They will say we are delirious, deranged and demented.But we must remind these people of the daily problems caused in Malpas High Street due to the absence of double yellow lines.

We can all relate to them. The High street was never built to cope with such a diverse and heavy traffic load.Not in two years, Not in two months, Not in two weeks, Not tomorrow – this problem needs to be addressed today.Firstly, why should our local farmers be put at a disadvantage due to inconsiderate drivers. Drivers who park inappropriately on either side of the high street creating an impossible and impractical channel through which our farmers have to painstakingly manoeuvre their colossal machinery. Is this fair? NO !Secondly, a proportion of us will understand the stress of the ‘ school run’. The preparation for school in the morning is in itself fairly stressful, but let us consider what fuels this stress even further.

Parents are faced with a gridlock situation when they arrive at Malpas High Street, which not only results in their children attending school late but also putting the children who walk to school at risk. As parents’ stress levels hit the ceiling, a mistake is easily made and the death of a young innocent child could be on your conscience forever.Is this what our community wants to see?Instead of two-way traffic squeezing down one narrow funnel, why not implement a double yellow line system, which would allow traffic to flow with ease up and down the High Street.Our local shops are for many of us a practical and efficient way to buy the consumer goods we need. We all find it easy to park outside the local shops, to pop in quickly to purchase a loaf of bread or daily newspaper.

do we not? But why should we have the right to cause deliveries to be late due to the fact we have parked in the space allocated to the unloading of heavy goods vehicles.Whilst you are buying your white sliced loaf, there is a lorry with 100 white sliced loaves waiting to be delivered. Meanwhile there is a car park which is deserted and high-street infested with cars. So let the double yellow lines provide the answer to this problem.

I don’t pretend for a moment that the implementation of double yellow lines on the Malpas High Street will solve all the traffic problems in the village. However, there are those who are blind to the present situation and to the problems it is causing.Let’s be clear about this, this is not change for change sake. The double yellow lines will provide a more free flowing traffic system, a safer traffic system and one which would surely strenghthen our community.Heaven knows, we’re not there with this proposal yet.

But this is real life and we should never lose our determination to improve.