Campaigners fighting for a Boston bypass have blasted Tory-run Lincolnshire County Council for lack of progress. They have written to David Cameron, Leader of the Conservatives, asking him to urgently put pressure on the county council to get action.
I look forward to seeing his reply...
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11 comments:
Phil - I dont know why you bother sometimes - I thought Labour was in cabinet at Boston and these ridiculous one issue campaigners will be a disaster for Boston if they get anywhere near getting people elected.They havent got an idea or a policy between them.You havent of course commented that its your government that is restricting expenditure on roads in the East Midlands to £71 million a year.Your only MP in Lincolnshire who will no doubt be an ex MP come the next election is hardly going to want Boston to have a bypass with Gordons money (sorry -Ours) until Lincoln has a completed road network.
Labour say nothing on how they are going to get people onto new forms of public transport and how they will fund it when we all know public transport is a key part of addressing the Stern report on Climate change.No doubt that will be used to tax everyone more without addressing the key issues the report raises.
anonymous:
i see you're still hiding your identity, which is a pity.
i see however where you're coming from - and well remember pre-97 when the boot was on the other foot.
we needed a by-pass for the deepings, but Lincoln was a Tory marginal, so they got the money for the Brayford "flyover" road to serve the University and we had to wait until Labour came to office.
The Tory bribe didn't work of course in Lincoln - hence Gilly Merron has been Labour MP for the past ten years.
I find your comments about public transport interesting - you are clearly not aware that the Labour Government has given Tory Lincolnshire a million quid a year specifically for public rural transport to allow Translink to be a success.
This is new money that the Tories never provided.
Look forward to you coming out the closet.
I think Lincolnshire do very well from central government for transport. Having lived in the county for many years, I have been impressed with funding since 1997 when the Labour Government got elected. Many villages have been opened up to bus routes and we do have the dial up service as well. Bus routes that were in existence prior to 1997 have also been increased. I therefore do not know where anonymous is coming from as he obviously has not seen the differences in public transport that I have. Perhaps he ought to attend an age concern day centre and listen to the users of the services. In addition, the road network in Lincolnshire is now very well maintained - all from central funding.
Well, for a start, Phil, it's called InterConnect/CallConnect. The name Translink is the old Council transport department, now left to fend for itself.
The Tory mega-priority is the Lincoln Eastern and Southern bypass on stilts across the Witham and cutting through the edge at Waddington respectively.
This road building programme is so expensive that it crowds out everything else.
The Boston people may well be single issue campaigners, but they are right to point out the disaster of John Adams Way, Boston, and how bunged up Boston is.
Scrap all the road schemes, except a few safety-related remodellings. If the people of Boston want a by-pass then sure, campaign for a local congestion charge where all the money, every penny raised is ring fenced to pay for it and the associated bus links.
The Interconnect Bus network is high quality, but patchy. Nothing between Morton and Sleaford/Grantham because South Kesteven District Council are still in the 1970s.
Lincolnshire still gets a very poor deal in Transport money compared to the rest of the East Midlands and urban England.
brynley:
thanks for putting me right on my flashback to Translink.
Must have been past my bedtime...
anonymous (still):
As Liz says, we certainly get a better deal in Lincs than we did a few years ago...
For years, for example, the Tory Government promised to dual the A46 Newark to Lincoln - usually just before an election.
Nothing happened until Gilly Merron was elected MP for Lincoln in 1997 and made the A46 her priority.
It is now open, and connecting the city to the rest of the world...look at the economic development in Lincoln now compared to a decade ago!
Well phil, have you heard of a local transport plan?
This is more dictat from comrade Blair. Unless a scheme for Boston is in the LTP we've got more chance of a bypass than John Hough has of growing hair on his head.The measly £71million each year allocated to the six counties in the East Midlands Region is like new labour( or should it be new failure) inadequate and pathetic.
Ms Merron has made it quite clear she will only be supporting the Lincoln routes.
So if you have as much influence as you pretend to have bring the ministers and their pot of gold into lincolnshire,so we can see bypasses for Boston,Lincoln,Grantham and even Skegness. But there again if everyone got what the County Council want to give them you would only claim the credit for comrade Blair and you would have nothing to moan about. You thrive on problems, you moan about everything but deliver nothing. Sounds like New Labour does it not.
anonymous (still):
enjoyed your rant, sounds to me like you should think of standing for county council - you fit the mould of the controlling group perfectly.
now, let me get this right...you're accusing me of moaning!
i'd invite you to rearrange the following into a well know phrase or saying:
pot, kettle, black, calling, the
There's a lot more to this than the simple funding issue.
Publicly they claim 100% support for a bypass for Boston - privately, behind the closed doors of the Borough and County Councils, a very different discussion is taking place.
Follow our campaign at www.bbeg.org.uk - the Boston Bypass & Economic Growth Pressure Group (BBEG).
Most of the comments re a bypass for Boston, are correct in that it is political and the problems of congestion in Boston do not enter into the equation one bit.
There are more ratios here than just a Labour/Conservative divide.
First, as pointed out, we have a Labour Transport Minister who is also MP for Lincoln. She will obviously put Lincoln to the top of her tray. The fact that any decision to be made on the Lincoln Eastern Bypass will be handed over to others for a decision, does not matter one bit. She will have ticked the boxes and made the comment "recommended".
The point concerning funding for this region is another nail in the coffin for Boston. Look at the counties covered by the meagre allocation of funds and Lincolnshire with its high mileage of roads compared with the other counties will be sadly left out. Lincolnshires roads are already way behind other counties due entirely to neglect from previous Governments and the lack of any persuasion from elected members in Lincolnshire.
We also have a Conservative administration in Lincolnshire County Council who are pushing ahead with two bypasses in Lincoln to the detriment of all other schemes. The two bypasses in Lincoln are not required for traffic congestion or polution but for development. Recently the discussion at committee level was pushed back from one month to allow work on the Lincoln Southern to progress.
The Transport Study recently carried out in Boston has been shown to be a catalogue of errors and any person who lives or visits Boston on a regular basis will know that there is a problem. The area round Boston and even Skegness is losing business due entirely to traffic congestion yet neither Lincolnshire County Council or Boston Borough Council will get their teeth into the problem. The economic prosperity of the entire area is suffering, ask any retailer in Boston.
Lincoln city is always top of any Agenda.
Whilst we have an MP for Lincoln who is Transport Minister and a Conservative Executive at Lincolnshire who place one of their members, the Portfolio Holder for Highways, as Chair for a committee pushing schemes for Lincoln city, what chance have other towns in Lincolnshire?
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