I know from my work with local authorities that they have many things that they “must do” – and they are not adequately resourced to do all of them. They have therefore had to acquire a thicker skin when it comes to shrugging their shoulders and not doing something they are told they must do.

My concern is that once the responsibility for vaccination moves from PCTs to local authorities, they will consider the benefits of vaccination to be too far in the future to be worth bothering about, given the urgent need for money to spend on other things, and give it a lower priority.

In any case, the junctions on Parker’s network would be signed with large Totems – along the lines of Tube stations – thus making them functionally equivalent to Tube stations. You could say, for instance, “meet me at R1G2″, just as you could meet at Oxford Circus.

There’s no real need, anyway, for cycle routes to link up perfectly with the Tube network; most underground lines don’t allow bikes on them. Plus it wouldn’t be hard for cyclists to consult a supprting map and hop from Parker’s routes across to a Tube station – no harder than getting from a Tube station to your final destination.

The final benefit of Parker’s map over your proposal concerns the last point you make: about making bike routes slightly more circitious than necessary. I suppose this is a joke…? Because the last thing cyclists want is to go around the houses to get from A to B. The genius of Parker’s network is that it involves long staight routes connecting all areas of the capital: wherever you were you’d always find a long staight cycle route leading you in the direction you want go in.

His map may look superficially like spahgetti, but this observation entirely misses the point. Parker’s network is actually an elegant, beautiful simplification of the route information which already exists. The routes, yes, are complex; but that is the whole point. Parker’s map is not.

Re-reading the comments above though – I do think a little humility might be in order. Its tremendous to hear all the things that public health has to offer local government – however public health professionals should also be clear that they will benefit from local government expertise. How about these as a starter for 10?

Taking responsibility for rationing services in the face of vicious government cuts; Engaging local people in dialogue; Providing leadership on local economic strategies; Bringing a coherent approach to work on Early Years; Managing and motivating large groups of staff; Developing complex high level strategic partnerships; and my favourite – providing one of the most powerful and public means of challenging government on the impact of policies on local people – particularly the most disadvantaged.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/oct/25/south-africa-solar-power-plant

Alan M-D