Letter: Many Residents Want the London Road Scheme to Go Ahead

Published on: 10 Jan, 2024
Updated on: 10 Jan, 2024

From: Roger Carnegie

In response to: The London Road Plans Are 100 per cent Better Than What We Have

An excellent summary from Andy Friend-Smith, the very small group of residents viscerally campaigning against this cannot accept they are the minority.

A George Abbot pupil survey reported hundreds of pupils would use the new lanes, Guildford High School pupils also showed very strong support. The Surrey Council consultation also showed very strong and broad support.

We’ve even seen the Kidicalmass Rides, attended by hundreds of families to highlight the lack of walking and cycling options. My grandchild went along to the September event.

The LRAG campaigners, confronted with such overwhelming support faced a dilemma: they needed to continue to discredit the scheme but there was disagreement on how to do this.

My LRAG sources tell me that the LRAG committee then fractured with resignations and a splinter group was started that was behind an “anonymous” survey. This led to Monty Python levels of farce similar to the Life of Brian’s “People’s Front of Judea” versus the “Judean People’s Front”.

There were then two rival surveys launched, one by LRAG and another by an anonymous “concerned resident”. I struggled to keep up with the number of surveys and claims being made.

What I do know is many, many residents want this to go ahead and pupils are fed up with the “angry old men” telling them what they should think and do.

Responses to Letter: Many Residents Want the London Road Scheme to Go Ahead

Malcolm Stanier Reply

January 10, 2024 at 8:40 pm

Contrary to Mr Carnegie’s view I believe it is the pro cycle lane lobby that are a “very small group” who are “viscerally campaigning for this”. Mr Carnegie’s continues to rubbish the views of those that feel the cycle lanes should not go ahead, but he provides no evidence to back up his claim of them being in a minority.

Where is the evidence of a George Abbot school pupil survey? I doubt that hundreds of pupils would be bothered to fill in a survey, let alone say they would use the cycle lanes. Where is the evidence of the very strong support of pupils at Guildford High School? As for the Surrey County Council consultation, I would not believe anything that it would claim.

I would suggest that it is more Monty Python and naive to believe that road users in any number are going to swap their vehicles for bicycles. Even SCC estimates that the number of cyclists would rise from around 200 to around 400, a reason they give for the below standard carriageway dimensions in the Guildford High School vicinity.

Are we going to spend £2 million plus for a possible additional 200 cyclists (according to the SCC forecast) and increased congestion of London Road, a major route connecting Guildford with the A3?
Roger Carnegie Reply

January 11, 2024 at 7:08 pm

Mr Stanier may be missing the point slightly yet manages to demonstrate my observation very succinctly.

Many school children made their views known, and to then discredit them in such a belittling manner is what I object to.

For evidence, please do take the time to read through the responses. They are all publicly available on the consultation website. You’ll see the majority are supportive and give very compelling reasons for this.

You could approach the school pupils as they were stakeholders in the steering group meetings. George Abbot 6th form pupils organised and ran the school survey, despite your view that they are not “bothered”.
- S Callanan Reply
  
  January 12, 2024 at 1:57 pm
  
  Have I got this right? Comparing whatever happened within the LRAG committee to the farcical dispute between the People’s Front of Judea and the Judean People’s Front in Monty Python’s Life of Brian isn’t “discrediting” the committee in “a belittling manner”. Or is Mr Carnegie making a point too subtle for me to grasp?