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Alliance
For Immediate Release 2 October 2004
National Group Objects to M24.
In what must be a knock-out blow to the joint West Sussex and Surrey County
Council scheme for the massive road building planned for the A24, respected Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) have supported the
demand by the A24 Alliance for a Public Inquiry into the scheme.
In the letter sent to the Government Office for the South East (GOSE) and the county council, and which the CPRE have kindly allowed us to copy here
for publishing, the CPRE said:
"I refer to the Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) Order 1995 Notice under Article 6 of Application for Planning Permission
for the above proposed development on and adjoining the A24 in West Sussex and request on behalf of CPRE Sussex Branch, Horsham & Crawley District that this application for planning permission is called in by the Secretary
of State for his determination.
The proposed scheme is a major highway scheme involving at least £24m of taxpayers' money. It would involve the construction of several kilometres of
new road together with major carriageway works and new graded junctions. There are many unresolved issues with the proposed scheme which we believe have not been properly addressed by the County Council.
We do not consider
that a scheme of this size should be determined solely by the County Council which is submitting the application. We also believe that this scheme should be properly considered and evaluated at South East Regional level and
subject to a full environmental assessment.
Enclosed for your information is our letter of objection to the above scheme summarising some of the main points of concern from our point of view.
Yours faithfully".
For the A24 Alliance Peter Finch said: "As the full implications of the scheme become clear, support for our opposition to it grows daily. If visits
to our website are anything to go by, then most of middle England from Broadwater in the south and Dorking to the north are appalled by the scheme.
And its not only the massive cost to the local council tax payer - and that cost is growing daily - that concerns people, but also what further
surprises are in the pipe-line?
One of those surprises slipped out in an interview with Tex Pemberton by Southern Counties Radio's Nigel Campbell (7.10AM, September 15.) In an
answer to a question posed, Mr Pemberton stated that all the roundabouts on the A24 would be replaced in due course by flyovers as traffic volumes inevitability increased.
From those comments it is clear this Cabinet member has learnt nothing from the disastrous policy, of predict the growth of traffic and then provide the
roads for it to fill, of the 80's and 90's. It was that cob-web thinking which has got us in today's transport mess"
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Notes for Editors.
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.