andy_wrx said:
Do have a look at thet Warrington link John-the-Monkey put up above.
You'll see that your council doesn't have a monopoly on creating ludicrous and unuseable cyclepaths.
Presumably somebody at the council has the task of producing x miles of cycle path and a budget of £y (or do I mean £ymillion ?) and this is the best they can manage...
I did see that one and it is a horrendous misuse of public money. I think we should be asking what the public accounts committee is doing to challenge the shameful misuse of our cash. If of only a small proportion of the cycle lanes produced each year are of these low standards this would surely run into significant sums of money and somebody needs to be held accountable for that.
Public services are arranged differently here as for many years (indeed until earlier this year) Northern Ireland was under Direct Rule. That means that Government Ministers were responsible for the provision of most public services including Road Building under the auspices of the Department for Regional Development's Road Service Agency. Local Councils are limited mostly to refuse collection and planning requests for housing/business premises not road building however I am sure they would be consulted but the decision does not lie with them.
As from earlier this year responsbility for most Public Services has come under the control of the Northern Ireland Assembly with Ian Paisley as First Minister and Martin McGuinness the Deputy First Minister. However as they have only just assumed these powers again and this cycle path and most of the road and cycle network here was built under Direct Rule ie by the authority of the Northern Ireland Secretary, a member of the British Cabinet.
Given this the Government has direct responsibility for the misuse of public funds if this found to be the case. They cannot blame some council for this.
Sorry for those that didn't want a very brief and basic lesson in Northern Ireland Politics but in the context I felt important to share it.