JUDITH HENEGHAN: Should pavements really be at the top of the agenda? (From Hampshire Chronicle)

JUDITH HENEGHAN: Should pavements really be at the top of the agenda?

3:30pm Thursday 17th May 2007 in News

A WOMAN stopped me in the High Street in Winchester recently.

She asked me to sign a petition calling on the council to make good all the uneven paving in the pedestrian precinct.

I was in a hurry, and declined, politely.

"But look at the state of them!" she said, pointing to a patch of tarmac that had once contained a flagstone. "They're dangerous!"

I looked. It was perfectly true. Someone might trip up and hurt themselves. Yet the woman's challenge made me stop and think. Winchester's surfaces are actually pretty smooth, and I'm not just talking about the pavements.

In the end I made a deliberate decision not to sign her petition.

Of all the issues I care about in the world right now, pavements are quite low on my list.

I don't wish to upset or offend anyone who has suffered painfully from a fall or an accident, but sometimes I have to ask myself what kind of city I want to live in.

There has been a lot of comment recently about the state of Winchester. Local elections have brought many of these issues to the fore.

On the one hand it is considered highly desirable' because of its good schools, leafy walks and proximity to London.

On the other hand it is over-priced and, according to many residents, over-developed.

Some accuse it of smugness - a cathedral city out of touch with the real' world.

Others say it is disappearing under a murky fug of litter, graffiti and open-all-hours pub chains.

There are those who think that Winchester is not sufficiently diverse, while others consider the tourists and the students to be excessively noisy and disruptive.

And what about all those teenagers who fill the High Street after school? Are they a threatening mob, or should we feel proud to have a precinct where they can meet and socialise in relative safety?

Everyone sees something different, it seems. Me included.

When I stand at the West Gate with that curious foreshortening of the High Street as it stretches down to King Alfred's Statue against the green mound of St Giles' Hill, I see a vibrant city full of beautiful buildings, packed with hidden treasures, yet not afraid to welcome thousands of students, visitors, shoppers and local people.

We may have to shift a little to accommodate them all, but they generally flow in and out with surprising ease.

Winchester is a small city, a safe city, a beautiful city which nonetheless has its untidy edges, its jostling crowds and, yes, its occasional crack in the concrete.

Is it civilised? It depends on who you ask. Personally, however, I don't think I'd want to live in a place where smooth pavements are the most important item on the agenda.