The war of words on the pedestrian improvements/one way system rumbles on. It's emerged that county councillors want the scheme scrapped and taken out—after only four weeks. This seems to be purely based on the reaction on Facebook. If the scheme goes, it looks like we have democracy by social media. Is that healthy?
It ignores the fact that 80 per cent of the 606 responses to the pre-scheme consultation—an excellent rate—favoured the scheme.
Oddly enough, alongside the wish to rip out the scheme, in parallel, there is a belief among Ruthinians that the change was promoted and even installed by the town council and, in particular, by the mayor, Gavin Harris. Those who actually favour the scheme think that it wasn't their county councillors' work at all. This appears to add to the county councillors' woes. It's quite possible that the mayor himself has his sights on becoming a county councillor and, if that's the case and if he is elected in May 2022, this will unseat one of the existing three. In an arena where there are rarely sound challengers, you can understand why the scheme is therefore unsettling for the existing triumvirate.