County Council Cabinet Confirms Its Decision on London Road Scheme

Published on: 26 Nov, 2024
Updated on: 26 Nov, 2024

London Road Burpham (Google)

The Active Travel Scheme for London Road in Burpham, intended to improve facilities for pedestrians and cyclists, will not proceed.

Surrey County Council’s Cabinet confirmed their earlier decision today after the matter had been referred back to them by the Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee.

At their earlier meeting on the subject, several Cabinet members had expressed concern that the scheme could increase the risk to pedestrians if they had to share more areas of the pavement with cyclists.

See: Only Cabinet Members Will Speak at SCC’s Meeting to Decide on London Road Scheme

Cllr George Potter

George Potter (Lib Dem, Guildford East), who had spoken at length at the previous Cabinet meeting in support of the proposals, expressed his frustration: “Shamefully the Conservatives have doubled down on their decision to throw out much needed walking and cycling improvements in Burpham, despite the clear recommendation of cross-party backbench councillors that their previous rejection was based on a failure to properly consider, or understand, the evidence in front of them.

“This scheme would have delivered seven new pedestrian crossings, widened pavements and proper cycle lanes, all of which would have been paid for by central government funding, but thanks to this ideologically-driven decision, my community are now going to be left with dangerous roads without safe crossings and without safe ways for children to cycle to school.

“I am utterly depressed at this decision to ignore evidence, to ignore the community, and to make life worse for local people all for the sake of ideological opposition to investing in pedestrian and cyclist safety.”

Terry Newman

Terry Newman, chair of the London Road Action Group, said: “The Leader of The Council, at today’s meeting, stressed that the Cabinet had indeed thoroughly considered the pros and cons, as well as all the submissions from every quarter, not necessarily just what was contained in the Recommendation Paper submitted to the Cabinet.

“The absence of any additional evidence meant there was no need to rehearse the debate yet again and that the original decision would stand.

“I am disappointed that it took two years and many man-hours to come to this conclusion. A feasibility study should have recognised the ramifications that the available highway space would necessarily incur.

“This leaves the re-design of the Boxgrove roundabout still to be made public, but it will now have to integrate with the existing layout of cycling lanes and tracks.”

Cllr Howard Smith

Howard Smith, the GBC councillor (Lab, Westborough), who has been an advocate for the scheme from the start, commented: “It’s a very disappointing decision and not just because £6 million of infrastructure funding will be lost to Guildford. More importantly, another generation of children will no longer be safe to cycle there, particularly, for example, to and from George Abbot school.

“There will be continuing congestion through Burpham at peak times, with consequences for air quality.

“Nothing was offered to solve these issues by the opponents of the active travel scheme. I hope they are now satisfied with the result.”

More reaction has been sought and will be added as it is submitted. Please check back.