A24
Alliance
For Immediate Release 1 December 2009
Shy Council Officers Decline Meeting With Residents.
The
A24 Alliance meeting on Monday discussing the A24
Ashington-Southwater road scheme proved to be a lively one. Representing
the County Council was Cllr Lionel Barnard, county councillor for most of
the stretch of road.
Cllr
Barnard explained that the County Council's position on the A24
Ashington-Southwater road scheme was that it was a multi-million
pound safety scheme with funding allocated from the Regional Transport
Board and that it had backing from locally elected bodies. This
position was questioned by the local residents attending.
After
comments that the existing road safety measures, including reduced speeds
and safety cameras, had made a significant difference with no fatal
accidents on the stretch in the last five years, one blighted property
owner asked: "You've done a tremendous job with the calming schemes
costing a few hundreds of pounds, why do you need to spend over £30
million fixing a safety problem that you've already fixed". To that
Cllr Barnard just repeated safety was the main motivating issue. He also
commented that as far as he knew the current safety measures would remain
after any roadwork's were done. Asked if there was any other reason for
the road scheme, such as creating a super highway, Cllr Barnard said he
was not aware of any.
Regarding
funding, one resident pointed out that the Regional Transport Board had no
money, any money would come mostly from the Government, the
Department for Transport, and a significant sum from the County Council.
Moreover, the Government had refused to commit any money until it approved
a new business scheme for the scheme. The question was asked: "Have
you got a hope of getting any money from central
government in the current economic climate?"
Several
people also commented that the road scheme with flyovers and underpasses
would make an insignificant difference to journey times as extra
traffic diverted onto a perceived superior highway. This increase in
traffic would result in more accidents, defeating the whole objective of
the scheme. Others said that minor roadwork's to improve safety for
properties joining and leaving the road as well as improved highways
maintenance were needed, not such a grandiose and over the top scheme.
The
lack of recent public consultation was criticised. Cllr Barnard said that
a meeting for elected bodies had been held in October. In reply all those
present said that they had not been told - even though they were
the ones blighted - and had therefore been unable to talk to their elected
representatives in advance, a democratic right.
Unfortunately,
no council officer accepted the invitation to attend the meeting. This
meant that many questions could not be answered, leading to several people
leaving the meeting disgruntled. One said: "if they think they can
spend millions of pounds of council tax designing
the road, then they should be able to spend a few hundreds of pounds on an
exhibition or meeting so we can get answers".
Speaking
after the meeting, Peter Finch said: "Cllr Barnard should be
commended for attending the meeting and answering questions to the best of
his ability. His assurances that this was a safety scheme and nothing
else, left many unconvinced that spending well over £30 million was
necessary when the current safety calming measures were working so well.
In the words of one blighted property owner "it remains a mystery why
the Council are continuing with this unnecessary work". Residents
attending the meeting were unanimous that the scheme should be dropped,
the blight notices withdrawn and discussions started on road maintenance
and minor roadwork's".
ENDS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Editors notes.
The A24 Alliance was formed in January 2003 by a number of residents who live in the various villages and individual locations along the A24 from Dorking to Worthing.