23 June 2005
A120 Braintree-Marks Tey Consultation ends with late surge in public responses - but Essex County Council response links Rivenhall Airfield Waste Site to new road and is branded by Greens as "appallingly insensitive to local communities"
The extended public consultation on the major road proposals for the A120 and A12 east of Braintree closed on June 17th. There has been a huge response from residents, parish councils and local groups. The proposals have caused much controversy and upset in the local area as the Highways Agency reneged on previous assurances and only put forward one proposed route straight through the countryside and close to several historic villages. Following a series of ammendments put forward by Green Councillors at the June 13th Braintree District Council meeting, all of which were passed with all party support, the council's consultation response is now strongly critical of many aspects of the Agency proposal.
Local groups and parish councils held many meetings and events, set up web sites and organised letter writing to both oppose the Highways Agency proposal and suggest alternatives, recognising that the existing road through communities such as Bradwell is sub standard and dangerous.
Braintree District Green Party Councillors James Abbott and Philip Hughes, whose ward is directly affected by the proposed road, have submitted a 5 page response to the Highways Agency, opposing the proposal and suggesting a largely on-line alternative (already mostly modelled by the Agency) together with an underpass at Galleys Corner to separate local and through traffic. Crucially, this alternative provides total relief from through traffic for Bradwell village, which the Agency proposal fails to do (Green response available on request or can be seen at www.easterngreenparty.org.uk). During the consultation, representatives from the Highways Agency and their engineering consultants Hyder admitted that under their proposal, whilst traffic through Bradwell would initially be reduced it would rise back up to current levels in years to come.
Communities under fire
The Essex County Council consultation response has dropped a bombshell on local communities, already upset by the Highways Agency scheme. Whilst partially supporting the Highways Agency proposal, Essex County Council also want an even more southerly route investigated, which would have a far bigger impact on Silver End, Rivenhall and Rivenhall End and which they want built to accommodate 6 lanes - effectively a motorway. In addition - as predicted by the Green Party for many years - the County Council are strongly suggesting a direct access on to the new A120 for a major waste plant on Rivenhall Airfield, an access they describe in their submission as "eminently sensible". On top of that, they are suggesting another road to be built along the line of the existing gravel pit haul road which would run south from Bradwell across the countryside and the Blackwater valley close to the historic Bradwell church.
District Cllr. James Abbott (Green, Bradwell, Rivenhall and Silver End ward) said
"We hope that the Highways Agency will now take carefull account of the huge response there has been to their unacceptable proposal. It is almost universally accepted that the existing road is substandard and dangerous. But the work to deal with that should take in both local and strategic transport needs and should not just be a major road at public expense through the countryside that is aimed at facilitating even more unsustainable growth of private developments such as Stansted Airport and the East Coast ports.
The "alternative on-line" proposal meets the local and strategic needs for the A120. It eliminates congestion at Galleys Corner, uses more of the existing road to reduce loss of farmland and gets all through traffic out of Bradwell. It avoids the need to create 2 road corridors - which the Agency proposal creates. It avoids the gross imposition of noise and pollution on rural communities such as Cressing, Tye Green and Silver End - which would be adversely affected by the insensitive Agency proposal. We also believe that adding more lanes to the A12 is an unneccessary and environmentally unacceptable part of the Agency proposal and should be scrapped. Instead, the focus should be on improving access to Tiptree so that HGV and through traffic is greatly reduced through Rivenhall End, Kelvedon and Feering. In addition, money saved through not widening the A12 could be spent on making sure that any upgrade of the A120 has top quality public transport links to limit traffic grow! th.
The response from Essex County Council demonstrates the extent to which they are remote from the local debate about the A120 and it is appallingly insensitive to local communities. It unfortunately also vindicates what Greens have being saying for years - that the County Council intention is to build effectively a motorway through our countryside, near to Silver End and Rivenhall, and use this monster road to access a major waste site on Rivenhall Airfield.
If they get their way, the Highways Agency and Essex County Council will be imposing development which will totally transform this rural area and will lead to a decline in quality of life for thousands of people who live in local villages. They have also clearly not been listening to the grave scientific threats of damaging climate change and environmental degradation being caused by current growth policies. To them, its just business as usual, yet their proposals will add yet more traffic generation to the roads and yet more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that future generations will pay dearly for."
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