SO the majority of residents in Straylands Grove and surrounding streets want to effectively privatise "their" road by means of a rising bollard, and they don't even have to pay for the privilege.

All they have to do is add to the volume of traffic along Stockton Lane and use Woodlands Grove as their approach road.

A case of "you can't use my road, but I can add to the congestion on yours".

If those residents want to close the public highway and make motorists add an extra two or more miles to their journey, not to mention the extra congestion involved, they should be compelled to use only the entrance with the bollard and pay for it - including its installation, maintenance and upkeep of the road itself.

After all, if they are the only ones using the road, they are the ones creating the necessity of repairs.

Wouldn't we all like a nice quiet private road?

Our road is used as a permanent training area for driving schools, causing obstructions and delays by their turns in the roads, reversing around corners and obstructing driveways.

Roads are public highways. There is no such thing as a "rat-run", only a through road and that is exactly what it does - provide a road through somewhere from one road to another.

Your article states that 62 per cent of vehicles entering from Malton Road passed through without stopping once.

That's wonderful, isn't it?

It shows that the traffic can keep flowing when motorists seek alternative routes to those that already have a half mile queue.

Janet S Kitchen,

Ashley Park Road,

York.

Updated: 09:49 Saturday, November 27, 2004