Pedestrian ban splits election candidates
A proposal to ban pedestrians from the centre of St Ives and other Cornish towns under anti- terrorism legislation has provoked a fierce reaction from candidates battling for the seat at the general election.
UKIP’s Mick Faulkner condemned the idea as ‘a EU inspired bit of madness’. He said: ‘This idea has all the hallmarks of another example of bonkers EU law-making. I have been told that Cornwall Council’s Highways Department weren’t consulted about the proposal. UKIP will be encouraging pedestrians to defy the ban.’
Meanwhile, Conservative candidate Derek Thomas said that he supported the pedestrian ban. He said: ‘Second-homers in St Ives have long complained to me about the difficulty of steering their four-wheel drive vehicles around the streets of the town without running over the toes of slow-moving locals. A ban on pedestrians was long overdue and I wholeheartedly welcome it.’
Lib Dem Andrew George and Labour PPC Philippa Latimer in a joint statement said they understood that threats from Cornish Nationalists – although Mebyon Kernow and the Cornish Democrats were harmless – were responsible for the ban and they reluctantly gave it their backing. But Green Party PPC Tim Andrewes said he thought the ban didn’t go far enough. ‘Now the the Green Party wants to see a ban on town centres,’ he said.
