"why can't the road be closed from the Bedford to the Ham from 11 to 2? The dancers could dance on the road and the traders and non-folky strollers could use the promenade. Everybody happy - so why isn't it done?"

Sidmouth Town Council is largely controlled by traders and their allies - they are collectively dim enough to believe that the more cars we have in Sidmouth the more money will be spent hence the more PROFIT they will make. Never mind the environment along the Esplanade which is one reason people come to Sidmouth - to listen to the sea instead of the traffic in central Birmingham.

The Drill Hall (used by the festival in the old days) may be demolished to make way for yet more car parking as in interim measure before flats are bullt there. There is a small group in Sidmouth fighting this - but they don't maybe realise that all public consultation exercises are a sham and the decisons as to what to do will have already have been made.

Closing the Esplanade to all but essential traffic (which would be limited to 3 mph) during all of all summer days at least would be a good idea - but one of our local county councillors (recently disqualified for being a drunk driver) is dim enough to believe that closing the Esplanade to traffic would make Sidmouth seafront 'die' - she really has said that more cars means more people means more life around. Faced with such mindsets - and a local population that would vote for a stuffed pilchard if it had a blue rosette, little progress is likely to be made.

I'll shut up now.