MOUNTING concern over the proposed one-way system at Baubigny has highlighted what is fast becoming a shambolic process of managing a serious road safety issue.

For residents in the area, this has been a disaster waiting to happen and the only change is that the way the States manages these matters means that the schools’ opening in the autumn will ensure that something, no matter how unsatisfactory, will be imposed.

As we reported yesterday, there are some important considerations for businesses there that have not adequately – in their view at least – been considered. The need for speed in resolving the situation means that they now won’t be.

Had it not been for the previous Environment Department’s refusal to accept expert advice and the States’ inability to deal with that impasse, the proposed traffic management scheme would long have been in the public domain.

That would have ensured full discussion and a wider pooling of local knowledge and – to use just one example – a riding stable would know whether its horses will be able to go against the one-way.

Because of the way this has been handled, residents are not clear on what basis the proposed traffic arrangements have been put together and Education yesterday refused to release the report it had received from its consultants, partly because it dates from 2004 and might be outdated.

If so, on what new information are the proposals based?

The changes will drive traffic down lanes that motorists currently avoid because of their narrowness and residents have no idea as to what number of vehicles to expect when the system starts. In addition, an unspecified volume of traffic will be trying to exit right from Les Sauvagees into Route Militaire at or around rush hour, which sounds like a recipe for chaos and extended tailbacks.

From the day Les Nicolles was first mooted for schools, traffic was parishioners’ number one priority but it has not been treated as such.

Now, the opening of a superb new facility will be overshadowed by what’s happening on the roads.