This is a classic example of how the urban 'planners' responsible for our environment are so out of touch with the community they are supposed to be serving. Note the quotation marks I have placed around the word planners as the muppets responsible for this situation have made the lazy assumption that everyone travels around by car. Clearly their so called training hasn't taught them to think through the choices people might wish to exercise in getting around.

Well, I've got news for them - we don't all drive cars! Some of us wishing to keep our bank accounts in the black for at least some of the month have decided that the expense of running a car is one expense too many and have opted to use other modes of transport. Walking is one of them.

But when we come to exercise our choice, thinking walking to work is a simple matter of putting one foot in front of the other and heading in the right direction, we find that hey presto, there is no pavement and you are obliged to walk along a muddy grass verge or out on a hard shoulder! As this is a large scale development, presumably the Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation (TTGDC) have had some involvement. If this is typical of the lax approach they take in planning the infrastructure to support massive new developments of warehouses and the like, it's no wonder the people of Thurrock have no trust in the TTGDC if they can't even be bothered to ensure a pavement is put in on the route to a major employment location.

Given that warehouses tend to be 24/7 style operations with shifts starting and ending at anti-social hours, not having a pavement or any effective lighting on the route into a major employment zone has got to be a breach of health and safety regulations. Working anti-social shifts is bad enough but when you have to risk injury or worse because you are forced to walk along a hard shoulder, to put it bluntly, it shows a callous disregard for people's safety.

Dave Amis
Thurrock IWCA