THE management of traffic in Kendal, be it delivery vehicles, cars, or cyclists, will always be a compromise.

Like many towns and cities in the UK our streets were never intended to take the volume of today's traffic.

People wish to have the convenience of their cars, while businesses require timed deliveries and collections.

The more houses we build and employment that are created, plus additional tourists, will only cause additional problems to our crowded streets, more so when M6 traffic has to be diverted through Kendal.

Our public transport system is inadequate to offer a reliable service with the continued financial constraints upon it. Our planners and councils only appear offer knee-jerk solutions and fail to look at the long-term picture, partly due again to financial funding for the long term.

Yet Government finds billions for projects like HS2, and Cross Rrail in the affluent south east of England.

If Kendal is to grow and prosper long term, finance must be available for a northern by-pass and possible park and ride schemes, provision for cyclists and improved public transport.

Keeping our heads buried in the sand like Lancaster did with its bottle-neck traffic problems for so many years will only be detrimental to Kendal.

Peter Gaukroger

Kendal