Newsdesk

DON'T WASTE OUR MONEY ON A NEW RING ROAD!

3rd July 2003

Ashford Borough Council has yet to clearly decide about whether to waste extra resources being given to Ashford for infrastructure on a hugely expensive southern ring road(1). It's new Delivery Plan does not rule this option out. The idea of an additional southerly ring road was specifically rejected at the workshop on the Ashford's future document and at the subsequent Community Conference. Steve Dawe comments:

"It is a great pity that the otherwise excellent bid the Council is making for extra resources for infrastructure has such a strong emphasis on accommodating to future traffic congestion. I attended the workshop on the Ashford's Future document and the Community Conference. The issue of a southern ring road, was raised by developers and rejected firmly by residents. As someone put it at the Workshop: 'This ring road would just be a line for developers to aim at.' Whichever route is chosen, villages outside Ashford are threatened with future status as Ashford suburbs. This is because new roads of this type promote infill development. The case of the new off-line Thanet Way route near Whitstable is an example, with development now filling the loop created by the new road. Other policies in the Delivery Plan suggest a vigorous effort to contain traffic growth. As the Standing Committee on Trunk Road Assessment has demonstrated (2), new roads generate more journeys and longer ones and are prone to congestion because of the continuing growth of traffic. The M25 is a congestion-prone example. The Council should focus resources on measures which reduce both urban and rural traffic levels." ENDs c269 WORDS

FURTHER INFORMATION: Steve Dawe, on 01233 645167 or 07904 382203. 0207 378 0436 on Mondays and Wednesdays. Contact address: 10 Hillbrow Road, Ashford, Kent TN23 4QH. Notes: 1. Delivering the Sustainable Communities Plan in Ashford: submission from the Ashford's Future Delivery Board Ashford Borough Council, 2003; 2. Trunk Roads and the generation of traffic The Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Road Assessment (HMSO, 1994).

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Updated by
Philip
20th June 2005