Well, I was there at the last DCC meeting and this is my recollection/take: RCH was indeed rudely gagged, and this was by Andy Simmons who was extremely rude to RCH! Having said that, RCH had an opinion on every item on the agenda, and the impression I had was that RCH expected special treatment throughout. Simmons needs to apologise though. The pro barriers, 4 in total, looking to me as two couples, were in the audience and were noisy and dismisive when anti barriers were speaking. Anti barriers had decided to take moral high ground and be brief and concillitory but I think this backfired and their arguments and points were weakened and watered down. RCH is absolutely right in that it was pure politics - Simmons stating that if a parent is scared to take its child out of car on Melbourne Grove due to perception of speeding then whether cars are speeding or not does not matter, it is the parents perception that matters. What utter @#@&*%. Does fact, or anyone elses "perceptions" not matter? Are parents the only ones that matter? The anti barriers had a parent speaker - well done. The Councillors were in defence mode, no more and no less. They were not going to be criticised. The Labour cllrs were worse for this I'm sorry to say. Helen Hayes could not have made herself more comfortable on the fence. Anne Kirby was just plain aggressive in denials of accusations not made at the meeting. Charlie Smith had to own up to suggesting the barrier when questioned but apparently it was the last in a long list of suggestions. Barber arrived late but kept his tongue but his incredulous face pulling at anti barriers was childish in the extreme. IMHO a non problem is having tax payers money thrown at it due to original misrepresentation, and local Cllrs are not big enough to admit to a mistake and change plans. In my opinion, reality and perception there is NOT a problem with speeding on Melbourne Grove, no more than elsewhere, and tiny baby infants are not being mown down a la Deathrace. My over riding memory of the DCC is the shameful politicing of Cllrs rather than common sense and doing what is right. The upshot of all of this is that a non existent problem is still having resources thrown at it when completely not needed. Cllrs need to man and woman up.