EACH week I read the letters page in the Advertiser/Messenger and frequently my attention is drawn to how local residents complain in respect to inactivity from our public bodies.

Well ... I think the residents of Santridge Lane, Bromsgrove, must by now hold some kind of record for the longest wait.

Just over 4 years ago residents of this secluded 'rat-run' were contacted by a concerned council which saw the dangerousness of the road as a 'high agenda' item, and a public meeting was held to offer residents the chance to discuss the whole issue in full.

There were a number of concerns raised at the time :

l Safety of children using the lane to make their way to and from school

l Narrowness of the lane

l Poor lighting

l General dissatisfaction of the residents who had witnessed the increasing high speed traffic.

After this meeting a plan was agreed to have a six-month trial involving the blocking of the lane.

However, following further consultation, this was thrown out as an option, as it would apparently have had an adverse effect on the business in the lane - surprising as I have lived in it almost all my adult life and don't know of any businesses located there.

So, eventually the council offered to have imprints placed on the road - imprints being painted areas on the road which will apparently magically slow down speeding cars in our dimly lit road at night.

So you might be asking - what eventually happened four years down the road - so to speak. Well in short nothing.

No positive action has been taken, there is no improved safety, no decisions have been made despite a number of residents trying to make things better.

In fact the only thing different in four years is that now our dimly lit, race track of a road is now more filled with parked cars and overgrown than it was back in 2001 - so much for progress !

Well done Bromsgrove Council - another job handled in a speedy and efficient manner. Perhaps if the members could stop fighting with each other and start fighting for the people who elected them Bromsgrove would be a better place for us all to live.

Elaine Thompson, Santridge Lane, Bromsgrove