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| Economic argument for an Arundel Bypass is getting stronger. |
With
all the talk about the UK's lagging productivity, France is 29% more
productive than the UK, that's not because they work harder or longer
hours, it's because France invested in roads, rail and airports
whilst the UK engages in a hugely costly self absorbed debate
discussing the rights and wrongs of any transport scheme, we waste
endless hours and many millions of pounds towards Barristers, lobby
groups and public inquiries whilst the rest of the world just gets on
with it .
Yes there needs to be a proper debate regarding our
infrastructure but it needs to be time and cost limited, our civil
service is part of the problem wrapping schemes up in rules and
stifling technical requirements whilst the clock ticks.
I
am in favour of HS2, not because we need a new high speed railway,
but we need more capacity, incidentally, we should have chosen 180mph
for HS2 (like the TGV in France) rather than 220mph which has
increased cost and technical requirements.
Equally
on Airports, we should have extra runways at Heathrow as well as
Gatwick, at Heathrow the runway extension making two out of one made
complete sense, Gatwick is the largest single runway airport
in the world and
desperately needs a second runway and Manston in Kent is an ideal
extra airport for London, it has one of the best runways in the UK
and already has a small terminal and it's only 16 miles from HS1
(Eurostar) but it's under threat to be redeveloped.
Locally,
we need the A27 improvements and the Arundel By-pass, the closing of
the A27 river bridge at Arundel impacts on our community and our
local business surely this underpins the economic argument for our
bypass.
Our local rail needs improvement, the Arundel Chord which is
a kilometer of new railway allowing Arun valley trains to turn left
on to the coastal railway to Brighton and trains from Brighton to
turn right to go up the Arun Valley line makes absolute economic
sense, It would give resilience to all the south coast rail
commuters giving an alternative route to London circumnavigating the
Brighton line and Balcombe tunnel which has caused huge delays
recently,
Until
next month,
Paul
Dendle is Arundel & Walberton ward and Cabinet Member for Leisure
& Amenities on Arun District Council email : Pauldendle@aol.com
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