Today, for reasons that are unimportant to you, dear reader,
we drove from the fine old town of Bath back to a very nearly drowned
Cullingworth. The journey took in a new experience since, rather than the usual
sclerotic motorways we opted for a pleasant drive – I would say meander but the
one thing the Fosse Way doesn’t do is wander about – passed Malmesbury,
Cirencester, Stow-in-the-Wold and Stratford. I say passed since – with the
exception of Moreton-in-Marsh – all the places en route are safely by-passed by
a well maintained and appropriately sized highway.
At the end of this little trip the navigation (Kathryn)
announced that we were now going “anti-clockwise round Coventry”. This tickled
me a little but got me to thinking about how we moan and whinge about
transport, traffic and roads. Yet, over the years the assorted county councils
(in the main) have, along with the Highways agency, smoothed the passage of
traffic while allowing the various little market towns, spas and villages to
breathe again.
So since we didn’t go through any town centres – a favourite
topic on mine – I will comment on roads. Starting with the little windy country
lanes that don’t seem to go anywhere but which are lovingly patched up and
repaired by a combination of council workers, assorted contractors and the
local farmer. The recent bad weather has bashed away at these roads washing
away lumps of them, filling dips and hollows with water and strewing the
surface with the debris from fields and lanes – a veritable flotsam and jetsam
of farm life. And they – those farmers, the men from the water board and the
council – were already out mending and making do. Allowing us to pass (actual
thigh deep floods aside) from one place to another with the minimum of
hindrance.
And then to the better roads – thousands of miles of them
that we take for granted. Filled –sometimes to overflowing – with traffic, all
going busily about its daily business. These are the arteries of England’s
economy. Forget about those trains and planes, ignore the fancy urban tramways
and underground systems – it is these A-roads and B-roads along with the wealth
of England flows each day. Ten thousand and more vans, pick-ups, low-loaders,
trucks, container wagons, car transporters and delivery lorries. Each one with
its precious cargo – goods and expertise flowing from one small place to
another. Each little trip making it possible for us to have bread on the table,
heat in the house and a happy smile on the faces of healthy children.
So to those who look disdainfully at the car, who curse the
van and the truck. For all you who hold forth about how all the freight can go
on railways or even into barges. All of you are wrong. The future success of
our economy depends rather more on those roads, on allowing the easy movement
of plumbers and locksmiths, supermarket delivery drivers and truckers, computer
salesmen and cheesemakers – all the producers that make us rich. And that means
roads.
So if there is to be infrastructure investment let’s spend
it on by-passes, new road links, road widening and road improvements. Let’s
give councils the money to do the backlog of repairs. Let’s spend the money we
get from road users – all £30 billion and more of it – on making life a little
easier for those road users. And let’s tell all the tree-huggers and
planet-savers that, right now, getting the economy moving is more important
than their eco-scaremongerings.
Getting the economy moving means getting people moving. And
that needs roads. Including the one going anti-clockwise round Coventry.
....
1 comment:
Sounds like the Aire Valley Trunk Road plan, destroyed by blinkered protesters 30 years ago, will now be resurrected at City Hall.
Good luck, Simon - you'll need it.
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