1st February 2006
Original article at: http://society.guardian.co.uk/societyguardian/story/0,,1698830,00.html
Here's an inspired way to spend £800m and further democracy. A shadowy sub-committee of the unelected East of England Regional Assembly, called the regional partnership group, has determined the next decade of transport priorities in the region. It intends to spend £818m on new road schemes, including £25m on just 870 metres of road for Southend which would plough through a local park, cut down 113 trees and hide forever one of the greatest Anglo Saxon burial sites. Because the committee barely considers sustainable transport, and was not prepared to let the public hear its deliberations, several local Friends of the Earth groups protested vociferously against it in Ipswich last week.