Barnet Council has unveiled plans for £3million worth of repairs to the borough's roads, but opposition groups warn that the schemes may see road humps and other traffic-calming measures disappearing without warning.

More than £1million will be spent this financial year on road resurfacing in the borough, with £1.5million going on footway repairs.

But, controversially, the council has said that, when it undertakes roadworks, it will consider removing traffic-calming measures if that would improve traffic flows. To do this, all that would be required is the approval of Councillor Brian Coleman, the cabinet member for environment, and the Conservative chairmen of the area environment sub-committees.

Mr Coleman said removing traffic-calming measures would not cost more money: "If you resurface a road properly, you almost have to rebuild the humps anyway. We will be absolutely sensible about this. There has been a lot of traffic-calming measures we objected to over the years, and we will rectify that, as and when we fix the roads."

But Labour's environment spokeswoman, Councillor Kath McGuirk, said: " It's unacceptable to cut back on road safety, especially when many residents, like those in Deans Way, Edgware, are desperate for road safety measures to be installed."

April 30, 2003 10:30