A complete failure of vision for transport and the green agenda

The GSD welcome the full reopening of Line Wall Road. This is a victory for the people of our community and a victory for common sense. Whilst the Government say that they will go back to the drawing board they will also need to learn big lessons from the planning failures that caused widespread public outrage at their incompetent handling of traffic and transport policy.

The Government’s conduct of the intended Line Wall closure and the numerous versions of it that were rolled out over a short period can only be described as a comedy of errors where our people witnessed first-hand the chaotic scenes on our roads for months.

The Government failed to accept reality- we have over 40,000 registered vehicles, an ageing and ill equipped infrastructure, a bottlenecked frontier, a serious lack of real cycling lane and safe alternatives and a rapid loss of parking bays not to mention increased parking charges. For radical solutions to work they have to be well-planned and other support measures such as park and ride and more frequent public transport have to be in place before they are introduced. Serious questions remain as to the capacity and capability of the Government in managing traffic and transport policy for the benefit of all in our community.

Shadow Minister for Transport, Health and the Environment, Elliott Phillips MP said;

“We will not let the Government off the hook for their very poor handling of the Line Wall Road debacle. We will continue to cross examine the Government in Parliament and in the media by asking how much these failures of planning have cost our community. People deserve to know the cost. The Government and Transport Minister Vijay Daryanani especially have shown that they are completely out of touch with the realities of how normal working families move about out City and once they have licked their wounds it is hoped that the Government will finally set out about developing a cohesive strategy which is both environmentally sustainable, effective and consistent”