I AM writing in response to a letter headed "Shakerley, it's a happening estate". It states that Shakerley is far from being the forgotten estate.

In the letter the councillors said the pensioners' bungalows have recently been updated with new windows, roof renovations and new doors etc. The bungalows are only about an eighth of the estate.

It also states that new fences will also be installed to more homes. Roofs are also being renovated, but all these renovations are happening around the outside edges of the estate, but what's for us.

I live in one of the white concrete houses. These homes were for temporary use during the war. After the war they were supposed to be demolished and in my eyes the sooner the better.

The councillors also stated that the traffic calming measures have also been introduced following the meeting called by residents on the estate. They don't say what kind of traffic calming measures have been introduced. That's because any person walking and driving around the estate can see that there is only anti-skid patches (appear as red gravel squares) on the road at certain junctions but that isn't going to slow down speeding drivers.

The residents of the estate have been calling for traffic calming programmes for years after several children have been killed after motoring accidents and a lot more sustaining minor injuries.

How many more have to be injured or even killed before the councillors will finally grant the wishes of the residents by putting sleeping policemen on the streets, instead of saying there isn't enough funding.

Just how much money can they put on the well being of children, and how many more children have to be killed? As a mother myself, I am not willing to let my children play on the streets, just to be another statistic.

Living on Rutland Road, it's the perfect short cut through the estate and sometimes gets more traffic than Crawford Avenue and Lancaster Avenue. So instead of putting fences around gardens just to make them fancy, why don't they do something practical with the money to save lives instead of wasting money.

Angry and Concerned resident

(Name and address supplied)

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.