Council shelves yellow paving slab scheme for Bromley North development (From News Shopper)

Can't believe they've seriously gone to the effort of trialing these paving slabs and then collating the feedback. Aren't there more important things to focus on?

Yellow paviers FGS! I'd have thought that, at a time when Bromley is having to make cuts to vital services such as the provision for children with severe special needs, they'd be a bit more realistic and in tune with public opinion. I don't know anyone who chooses where to shop and spend their money based on the colour/type of pavements. In fact, judging by the state of Orpington High Street (completely resurfaced in Mid 2010), whatever they put down it'll soon look awful covered with general street grime and peppered with chewing gum, oil stains and black asphalt repair patches. Council budgets are under severe strain right now but it seems there's enough in certain coffers for another silly vanity project! By all means further develop Bromley to increase trade but let's not kid ourselves that choosing costly paviers over cheaper alternatives is going to make people go there and spend more. The resurfacing work done in Orpington is an utter disgrace and not that long ago a bus was badly damaged when it was brought to a shuddering halt by a large granite block which hadn't been properly seated, tilted up as the bus drove over it and got wedged underneath. The rest of the High Street is an excellent example of the art of shoddy workmanship with numerous places where the road surface and pavements are uneven and/have subsided. The pretty black and white surfaced paviers they used for the zebra crossings lasted a few months before the surfaces began to wear off and I've lost count of how many asphalt patches and repairs have been required for no other reason than the work was substandard in the first place. All that money spent on what's rapidly becoming an eyesore and they want to repeat the process at our expense in Bromley???.... It's utter madness!

Just to add. As they prepare to throw our hard earned money at a very large pile of paviers, have any lessons been learned by the occupiers of Civic HQ from the debacle which is Orpington High Street, I wonder? Have they been down there and taken a peek at the disgraceful workmanship they paid so much for? I dare say the PR blurb and photos on the wall show the best bits as they were when the work had just been completed but there's no similar record of what's happened since as that would be too embarrassing. What I'd like to know is how those responsible seem to have got away with delivering a third rate job charged at first rate prices no doubt.