RUSH hour traffic was brought to a standstill on the A303 this morning after a military vehicle broke down on the approach to the Countess Roundabout.
This two line report is little more than a dot compared with the real problems of the A303 in the Amesbury area. One vehicle broken down but more often a serious accident and traffic stops.
Everyone knows that the trunk road is and has been an serious problem for decades with the inept Highways Authority (HA) coming up with a plethora of useless schemes which fail. No plan exists today, except another money wasting, sticking plaster attempt to do something for Olympic year ,1012 putting a ‘temporary’ Visitor Centre (VC) somewhere near Airman’s Cross and closing access to the A344 at its junction with the A303. No solution for the A303, Winterbourne Stoke or Stonehenge at all!
This useless plan and the emergence of a ‘Board’ of a the usual old faces called ‘stakeholders’ to oversee it, was revealed at a little heard of debate engineered by Robert Key MP on the day before Parliament closed for Christmas, 18th December, 2007. With four years to play with there is no proper government plan to improve the A303, which may well be a popular route to the Olympic events in Weymouth.
This useless plan and the emergence of a ‘Board’ of a the usual old faces called ‘stakeholders’ to oversee it, was revealed at a little heard of debate engineered by Robert Key Mp on the day before Parliament closed for Christmas, 18th December, 2007. With four years to play with there is no proper government plan to improve the A303, which may well be a popular route to the Olympic events in Weymouth.
In an attempt to spur a review of what is now the only viable solution to the problem, the proposed ACT AR4 route thrown out by a seriously flawed Inspector’s Report after the 2004 Public Inquiry, was recommended to government. The dead hand of the civil service smothered it. We said that if the Transport Minister had no solution perhaps the Culture Minister should take the lead and insist that the perfect site for the VC was where the eastern tunnel entrances were to have been behind New King Barrows Ridge.
The local Council Taxpayers of ACT know that increasingly, respected organisations accept that the route is the last real chance, costing today, four years later, around 25% of the useless tunnel plan while offering important benefits to the local road network. It could almost be built without hindering existing roads and would solve both the Wylye and Bourne Valley problems.
Was the now revoked detrunking of the A36 part of the HA’s subterfuge to kill off AR4 which can now be safely lifted? That same devious organisation actually used an offer to draw a map of the AR4 route for ACT to submit to the Inquiry while making sure it contained masses of faults to kill it. The proof, disclosed at the Inquiry but not included in the Inspector’s Report’, was an authentic copy of the HA’s map drawing programme which terminated in events described as ‘prepare rebuttal text’ and ‘submit text rebuttal to counsel’. Draw your own conclusions!
This two line report is little more than a dot compared with the real problems of the A303 in the Amesbury area. One vehicle broken down but more often a serious accident and traffic stops.
Everyone knows that the trunk road is and has been an serious problem for decades with the inept Highways Authority (HA) coming up with a plethora of useless schemes which fail. No plan exists today, except another money wasting, sticking plaster attempt to do something for Olympic year ,1012 putting a ‘temporary’ Visitor Centre (VC) somewhere near Airman’s Cross and closing access to the A344 at its junction with the A303. No solution for the A303, Winterbourne Stoke or Stonehenge at all!
This useless plan and the emergence of a ‘Board’ of a the usual old faces called ‘stakeholders’ to oversee it, was revealed at a little heard of debate engineered by Robert Key MP on the day before Parliament closed for Christmas, 18th December, 2007. With four years to play with there is no proper government plan to improve the A303, which may well be a popular route to the Olympic events in Weymouth.
This useless plan and the emergence of a ‘Board’ of a the usual old faces called ‘stakeholders’ to oversee it, was revealed at a little heard of debate engineered by Robert Key Mp on the day before Parliament closed for Christmas, 18th December, 2007. With four years to play with there is no proper government plan to improve the A303, which may well be a popular route to the Olympic events in Weymouth.
In an attempt to spur a review of what is now the only viable solution to the problem, the proposed ACT AR4 route thrown out by a seriously flawed Inspector’s Report after the 2004 Public Inquiry, was recommended to government. The dead hand of the civil service smothered it. We said that if the Transport Minister had no solution perhaps the Culture Minister should take the lead and insist that the perfect site for the VC was where the eastern tunnel entrances were to have been behind New King Barrows Ridge.
The local Council Taxpayers of ACT know that increasingly, respected organisations accept that the route is the last real chance, costing today, four years later, around 25% of the useless tunnel plan while offering important benefits to the local road network. It could almost be built without hindering existing roads and would solve both the Wylye and Bourne Valley problems.
Was the now revoked detrunking of the A36 part of the HA’s subterfuge to kill off AR4 which can now be safely lifted? That same devious organisation actually used an offer to draw a map of the AR4 route for ACT to submit to the Inquiry while making sure it contained masses of faults to kill it. The proof, disclosed at the Inquiry but not included in the Inspector’s Report’, was an authentic copy of the HA’s map drawing programme which terminated in events described as ‘prepare rebuttal text’ and ‘submit text rebuttal to counsel’. Draw your own conclusions!
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