23.5.06: MP IN NEW MOVE TO STOP THE NORTHERN ROUTE.
MP Geraldine Smith is to meet new Government Ministers in Whitehall and representatives from the Government Office for the North West to try to kill off the much criticised plans for the controversial Heysham M6 Link road. In her most forceful statement to date she concludes that the Northern route scheme should not be allowed to go ahead.
The MP believes that the massive road, linking Heysham Port to the M6, will not solve the chronic congestion problems of the Lancaster district and in fact the building of the road would make a solution to the problems virtually impossible to achieve. Her plan would be to build a bridge at the southern end of Lancaster to improve access and connect with Heysham. If the Northern route were built, it would rule out a southern bridge in the future.
In a letter setting out a long list of objections, she goes on to say that to justify the cost a road, it would have to make a significant contribution to solving the congestion problem and enhance the economic, environmental and social prospects of the area. Unfortunately, she says, the Northern Route fails to meet the needs of the district in these respects. She highlights the fact that the key Luneside regeneration area remains isolated and inaccessible under the present plan.
She states that the initiative has revealed an apparent lack of concern for the people whose lives will be blighted by the air, noise and visual pollution. This, the MP states, is totally unacceptable, as is the pollution which people in the centre of Lancaster would continue to experience if the scheme went ahead. Ms Smith also points to the lack of public consultation, and she is not surprised by the outrage in the communities of those affected.
Transport Solutions for Lancaster and Morecambe (TSLM) the independent group who favour non road building solutions, broadly welcomed the MP’s initiative. “We don’t support the building of any new road; so much can be achieved by alternative ideas. But Geraldine Smith has exposed how inadequate and destructive this third rate scheme is,” says David Gate, chair of the group. “Our MP is one of over 500 formal objectors; we hope that she can cut through the petty politics in Preston. There are new faces in Whitehall; we hope that they will take a more objective view.”
The County Council is now running well behind schedule, as it attempts to redesign the plans to satisfy the concerns of other major objectors like the Environment Agency and English Heritage, and major increases in the cost of the scheme are anticipated. A large number of people are demanding a public inquiry into the controversial scheme which destroys the North Lancashire Green Belt.