Having drawn attention to what appears to be a cynical attempt to divide and conquer public opinion to the A344 closure by Wiltshire County Council staff in 2005 (before it became the Wiltshire Council unitary authority) and the about face on the this issue by Wiltshire Councillors in 2011, another interesting document has crawled out of the woodwork.
What has emerged is a single page of the A303 Trunk Road (Stonehenge Improvement) Report, prepared for the First Secretary of State and the Secretary of State for Transport by Mr M Ellison. Specifically, and, by design, a poor attempt at humour, or simply coincidence; but certainly by the bitterest of ironies - page 344.
Yes, you read that correctly, page 344
It is worth reading - as ever, click on the image to enlarge it. Read it - again and again. Back in 2005, the Highways Agency had it right and the then Wiltshire County Council made its stance quite clear.
If any of you are left under any illusion that governments make decisions based on the available evidence, or on expert advice, then let this shatter it - once and for all. The Inspector's conclusion is a stark prophecy of what would happen:
I conclude that the closure of the A344 independently of the proposed improvement of the A303 would not be justifiable, in that it would increase congestion on the A303 and elsewhere in the local road system, causing additional problems for emergency vehicles.
Well, I guess you would have to ask yourselves which half-wits were the recipients of this report in 2005. Well, unless memory fails, I guess this would be none other than John "Two-Jags" Prescott and Alistair "Flipper" Darling. Need I write more?
No comments:
Post a Comment