Stop The Linslade Bypass

Press Release, Wednesday 1st February 2005:

MP attends demonstration for better Public Transport and safety measures for children in South Bedfordshire

Saturday 5thMarch, 9.15 am, Wing Hill Roundabout

FoE South Bedfordshire

Andrew Selous, MP for South West Bedfordshire, is coming to a demonstration 9.15 AM Saturday 5th March. at the Wing Hill Roundabout , junction of the A505 and the A418 so that local people can express their views on transport to him. Many people in Leighton Linslade are upset that they have not been properly consulted on this bypass since 1982 and cannot see any local benefits [1]. People in Linslade want to get some benefits in terms of safety measures for children, better public transport and environmental mitigation, in return for loosing their countryside [2]

South Beds Friends of the Earth very nearly achieved a Judicial Review on the Secretary of State's decision to allocate £43 million of tax payers money on the Linslade Bypass, but were advised that on a technicality they were out of time. South Beds FoE are concerned that no alternative has been properly considered, although Government guidance says that it should be. At the last minute the Department for Transport responded to their lawyers [3]. According to the DfT, they are happy with the appraisal done 5 years ago in 1999, and the scheme went through a Public Inquiry. In both cases the DfT claimed that full government guidance need not apply.

Andrew Selous MP is asking two written Parliamentary Questions in the House of Commons this week on why a scheme approved as long ago as 1999 does not have to have further appraisal. South Beds Friends of the Earth approaching the National Audit Office on whether it is good value for money to approve a scheme with such old appraisal data and no analysis of alternative, cheaper options.

Contrary to what Bucks has said, the Department for Transport says that this road is not part of a scheme to link Aylesbury and Milton Keynes and there have been no applications for funding for the Wing bypass [4]. This leaves many questions: is the dual carriageway just to bypass Stoke Hammond, or is it to service the waste site in Bletchley with its 750 lorries a day? There will serious traffic problems in Wing for many years. The DfT letter, states that the new housing growth has not been taken into account, as it has not been formally passed as law - but South Beds FoE have discovered the original edits of the letter which say that the reason for funding is that "it improves transport links within a growth area".

Victoria Harvey of South Bedfordshire Friends of the Earth says:

"It is amazing that a government which has been in power for 8 years can say that its own transport policy need not apply when handing out £43 million of taxpayers money""

"Wing is going to really suffer for many years as a result of this bypass. We want Bucks to put children first by putting in traffic calming in Wing and Linslade and Stoke Hammond. Buckinghamshire should have consulted with the people of Bedfordshire before taking away their countryside."

"This whole rural area is set to become dual carriageways and soulless housing estates with no facilities. The political cost of this protest to Bucks CC, will make other councils think before building more unneeded roads to support masses of unaffordable houses."

"The Department for Transport have essentially said that the main reason for the bypass is not to link Aylesbury and Milton Keynes. Therefore the main reason must be for the 750 waste lorries a day using the landfill site by Newton Longville. The bypass will not ease the congestion in Leighton Linslade and the Rat Run through Soulbury and Stoke Hammond will be shorter than using the new bypass."

Notes to Editors
[1] At a public debate organised by FoE on 12th Feb where the County Council and opponents of the road spoke, the meeting swung against the bypass with 81% against the road, 24% for, and 4% undecided.
[2] Earlier meetings between South Beds FoE and Bucks CC resulted in the Council agreeing to new public transport measures in response to the protests. However, the Council are now claiming they intended to put these measures in anyway.
[3] A copy of the letter is available on request, including the original, unedited version.
[4] According to Buckinghamshire County Council, the Stoke Hammond to Linslade Western Bypass is part of a scheme to upgrade the route between Aylesbury and Milton Keynes and have assured people that the Wing Bypass will be built in 2011. However the Department of Transport's letter says "With regard to the subject of further bypasses on the route. we have not received any application for funding of any such schemes.. As such the Department is satisfied that this was not a material factor in the Minister's decision to fully approve the Stoke Hammond and Linslade Western Bypass."
[5] The routes for the Wing bypass need to go to public consultation before they can put in applications for funding and a huge process of appraisal needs to be gone through. So it will be a long time before they can even apply for funding.
[6] According to Bucks CC there will be an extra 6,400 vehicle movements a day along the A418 through Wing.
[7] Shanks own the land south of Newton Longville beside the bypass, so they could well build another waste facility as well the landfill site beside the Lakes Estate.