Letter: The Public Have a Right To Expect Better

Published on: 13 Nov, 2024
Updated on: 13 Nov, 2024

London Road Burpham (image Google)

From Terry Newman

chair of the London Road Action Group

In response to: Surrey County Council ‘Backed Down’ Over London Road Scheme Call-in

How sad that the consideration of this technical issue, about how to incorporate an Active Travel Scheme for London Road, has dissolved into pure politics.

Accusations from the Lib Dems that the Conservatives have no business in coming to a different conclusion from the recommendation, suggest that they believe there exists only one possible opinion and outcome, theirs.

Is it really that “councillors (needed) the opportunity to review the evidence in detail” but hadn’t done so previously?

That’s a pretty scurrilous remark, suggesting a lack of integrity!

Or was the decision reached because the councillors actually had reviewed all the evidence, including that which would have an impact on all users of the route, not just cyclists. Perhaps they saw better the pros and cons of embarking, at great cost, on an irreversible project, still containing safety ramifications, that any future accountability might be hard to justify?

The debates over this scheme have been mired with many errors, erroneous claims, selective misuse of statistics and deliberate inaccuracies. It is a pretty unedifying state of affairs when a debate, which should major on safety and efficacy, collapses into assertions of ignorance and subterfuge.

The public have an expectation of better behaviour from our elected representatives, irrespective of which party they represent.