February 21, 2006
REFERRING to the Priory Park widening scheme (Feb 17), Geoff Percival said Southend Council's integrated transport partnership agreed the road widening scheme.
This implied that the green campaigners represented on that body were not opposed to the road widening scheme.
When representing Friends of the Earth at the partnership meetings, I was one of the most vocal opponents of road widening, regularly challenging councillors to drop the scheme, and work instead on an integrated transport plan for the town which would reduce traffic.
Eventually, despite huge effort, it became apparent that the new Conservative administration had no interest in reducing traffic.
Indeed, green campaigners were villified as anti-motorist and scaremongers, and so, most reluctantly, Friends of the Earth resigned from the partnership.
Some of the bravest people I have ever met are now camped out in appalling conditions trying to stop the road widening, and the devastation that global warming will bring unless we all support transport policies which reduce traffic.
JON FULLER
Westcliff
The above is a heavily edited version of Jon's letter, making it look as though he was working alone. The original is as follows:
Referring to the Priory Park widening scheme, Geoff Percival (17/2/2006) made the astonishing claim that Southend Borough Council's Integrated Transport Partnership agreed the road widening scheme, implying that the "green campaigners" represented on that body had not realised how ill-conceived, nor were opposed to, the road widening scheme. When representing Friends of the Earth (FoE) at the Partnership meetings I was one of the most vocal opponents of road widening, regularly challenging Councillors to drop the scheme, and work instead on an integrated transport plan for the town which would reduce traffic. Mine was not the only voice of dissent. Indeed, I cannot think of one single "green group" which supported the road widening scheme.
Eventually, despite huge effort, it became apparent that the new Conservative administration had no interest in reducing traffic. Indeed, green campaigners were vilified as "anti-motorist" and "scaremongers", and so, most reluctantly, FoE resigned from the Partnership. FoE organised some of the largest public meetings and demonstrations this town has ever seen, raising awareness of the appalling damage this road scheme would cause. It was following those meetings that the two local campaign groups were formed: "Parklife" and the "PPPS".
Some of the bravest people I have ever met are now camped out in appalling conditions trying to stop the road widening, and the devastation that global warming will bring unless we all support transport policies which reduce traffic. All those camped out represent the very best citizens of this town and are an example to us all.