Tag: John Bridge

A1 through Huntingdonshire – the forgotten route of the county

07:19 Friday 27th February 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: The A1 through Huntingdonshire has been described as a major constraint to growth and in urgent need of an upgrade. In a report to Huntingdonshire District Council, councillor Terry Hayward calls it the ‘forgotten route’ of the county. The Buckden roundabout is a particular source of anguish to people living nearby. Our reporter Tom Horn is at the roundabout now. How’s it looking this morning Tom?
(OB)
TOM HORN: Yes, morning Dotty. Well we’re right in the middle of the morning rush-hour here at the Buckden roundabout. I’m told this roundabout here at Buckden is actually the last one on the A1 before you get all the way up to Newcastle. Just to give you an idea of where we are, Buckden the village is one side, there’s a Shell garage just behind me. You head North to the likes of Peterborough and South to London. Obviously it’s a very busy morning already, cars struggling to get out of the village. Dotty, with me this morning is the aforementioned Terry Hayward , councillor Terry Hayward. Morning to you.
TERRY HAYWARD: Good morning to you.
TOM HORN: So first of all, what kind of problems do you experience here?
TERRY HAYWARD: Well as you’ve already mentioned, this is one of the main roads in Cambridgeshire. It’s one of the triangular roads, the A14, the 428 and the A1. And we’re the forgotten road quite honestly. As you can see we’ve got trouble getting out of the village onto the A1 here. You’ve got more or less perpetual traffic all day. There was a plan to have a new road way back in 1994, which was put to one side because of lack of money by a new Government. Basically what we need is a new motorway standard A1, stretching all the way from Sandy right the way up to the proposed new A1/A14 junction.
TOM HORN: OK. So of course there’s a constant stream of heavy traffic, cars, goods, freight vehicles, just passing the roundabout here. How difficult is it to get out of the village and onto the A1?
TERRY HAYWARD: Well virtually it’s almost impossible. You and I have been watching it this morning. Give you some example. I live about 100 yards up, away from the A1. On one occasion my wife and I were going into the village. She was driving. I was walking. I got to where we were going quicker than she could get driving, because of the holdup of trying to get onto the A1 and round the roundabout.
TOM HORN: So what’s the solution then Terry? What do you want to see change?
TERRY HAYWARD: Very simple solution. As I say we need a by-pass here. But longer than that we need a whole new motorway standard road, stretching as I say from the A14, the new A14, all the way down past Sandy. I know this is a project in the future, but it needs to be brought forward. It’s been forgotten for far far too long.
TOM HORN: Of course one measure that you have helped to introduce here already is the speed cameras, the 50mph average speed cameras, just a short distance from where we are. Have they made much difference?
TERRY HAYWARD: They’ve made a big difference. I’m Chairman of the A1 Safety Group, which is a group which combines the people from Southoe and Buckden. And we got these cameras put in about a year ago now. It took a long while, four or five years. And it is making a difference. It slows the traffic down. But one of the other problems that we have here is the A14, a notorious road blackspot. If there’s any holdup on there at all, then this becomes a short cut, either through the village or down Perry Road, which we’re atanding opposite. And this then becomes a total snarl-up.
TOM HORN: Terry, thank you very much for your time this morning. Dotty, I’m going to head into the village now. It might take me a while to get out onto the roundabout, as you’ve been hearing.
(STUDIO)
DOTTY MCLEOD: Yes. Good luck Tom. Thank you very much for that. Well we can now speak to Jonathan Djanogly, who is the MP for the area of course. The forgotten route of Cambridgeshire Jonathan. Is that a fair description do you think? Continue reading “A1 through Huntingdonshire – the forgotten route of the county”

David Cameron calls for pre-election private sector pay boost

09:23 Tuesday 10th February 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: When was the last time you had a payrise? Well never fear, because DC David Cameron is urging business leaders today to give their staff payrises. He will say that economic conditions have not been this good for such a long time. Well with us this morning to discuss what David Cameron has had to say about this is Darren Fower, LibDem Parliamentary candidate for Peterborough. Morning sir.
DARREN FOWER: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: We’ve got Daniel Zeichner with us as well. He’s the Labour Parliamentary candidate for Cambridge. Morning Daniel.
DANIEL ZEICHNER: Morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: And Vicky Ford, who’s the Conservative MEP for the East of England. Morning Vicky.
VICKY FORD: Morning.
PAUL STAINTON: He’s set the cat among the pigeons hasn’t he, DC this morning? We’re all going to get a payrise. I’m looking forward to it Vicky.
VICKY FORD: Oh well, it is the case that we are now the fastest growing economy in the Western world, and that’s all due to the Long Term Economic Plan working. And I think people would like to see pay rise, and this is the Prime Minister encouraging businesses to realise that the situation is looking better than it’s done for a while. And if they can afford to, let’s put some of that money back in people’s pockets.
PAUL STAINTON: Is he going to lead by example and put pensions up for pensioners,. give them a payrise?
VICKY FORD: This is looking at the private sector, not the public sector.
PAUL STAINTON: Oh right.
VICKY FORD: Because of course the public sector, you know, we still need to keep working on this debt and deficit, and correcting that mess that we were left behind by the last Government. So this is saying to the private sector, to businesses, growth is coming. They’ve done a good job. We’ve got two million more new jobs created by businesses. We’ve obviously given people a tax cut. 27 million people have benefited for that tax cut. That’s at the lowest end of pay.
PAUL STAINTON: But if things are so good Vicky, why doesn’t he practice what he preaches?
VICKY FORD: Well he is saying now it’s time for the private sector to also deliver on giving benefits. He has practiced what he’s preaching in that he has put the money through his low taxes into 27 million pockets. So your pay slip is looking better at the bottom line. But he’d like the businesses to start making it look better at the top line.
PAUL STAINTON: Good news Daniel, isn’t it, that the economy is doing so well? Good news that we can all afford as a small business, medium business, to give our employees a payrise apparently.
DANIEL ZEICHNER: Well the hypocrisy is just breathtaking, isn’t it? Cameron is the boss of millions of workers in this country, National Health Service workers for instance. And has he even followed the advice of his own independent pay review body? Not at all. So what he’s doing is he’s ambling out of his champagne reception from last night, wandering along to the Chambers of Commerce, and just basically saying to Britain’s hard working business leaders, you should do it. I’m not prepared to do it. And don’t forget that people are now something like £1600 a year worse off. This is going to be the first time that people have gone into a General Election worse off than at the last election. We’ve got 1.4 million people on zero-hours contracts. Frankly Cameron is not going to deliver on any of this. It’s just a pre-election speech, and I hope people will see through it.
PAUL STAINTON: We’ve spoken to the Chairman of Cambridgeshire’s Chamber of Commerce, John Bridge. He can’t come on this morning because he’s actually at the conference and just taking his seat. But he says he’d “prefer the Government to keep their opinions to themselves and focus on bringing in investment and developing growth. many businesses can’t afford pay rises at this time, so to recommend them isn’t very wise.” Darren Fower, where’s the LibDems? Stop him. I thought that was what you were doing. You were reining him in. Continue reading “David Cameron calls for pre-election private sector pay boost”

Lisa Forbes and John Bridge on Ed Miliband and big business

09:25 Tuesday 3rd February 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Let’s get a recap of this story about Ed Miliband this morning from our political commentator Chris Moncrieff. Ed’s fallen out with business. Business leaders saying he’s a throwback to the ’70s. We’ve got Lord Rose having a go at him. Several other business leaders. In Cheshire the former boss of B&Q. Sir Nigel Rudd the Chairman of Heathrow. We had the guy running Boots yesterday. This all after Ed Miliband accused some businesses and their leaders of not paying their taxes. I mentioned Chris Moncrieff is with us, political commentator. Morning Chris.
CHRIS MONCRIEFF: Morning.
PAUL STAINTON: Where’s all this come from?
CHRIS MONCRIEFF: Well it’s 93 days to go to the General Election and yet Miliband and the British industry’s leaders, captains of industry, seem to be already involved in a savage war of words. It emerged from nothing, with Boots boss having a go and saying that a Labour victory would be a catastrophe. And Ed Miliband hit back, saying well he lives in Monaco and he’s not paying his taxes. And other industrial leaders have fallen into line and come to the defence of the Boots man, saying this is an unfair personal attack, and that Miliband is playing the man, not the ball.
PAUL STAINTON: Well Lisa Forbes is with us as well. She’s Peterborough’s Prospective Labour Party candidate. Morning Lisa.
LISA FORBES: Morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: Playing the man, not the ball?
LISA FORBES: I don’t agree. I just think this goes to the heart of what’s fair and unfair. You and I Paul, we have to pay our taxes. If you’re a self employed person and you don’t pay your tax, then the full weight of the law will come down onto you. And I think people just don’t understand, at a time of austerity and we’re trying to cut the deficit,  that these companies are allowed to get away with paying billions in profits into the tax system in this country.
PAUL STAINTON: Well they do employ five, ten thousand people at a time, don’t they? I’m Mr Small Businessman. I don’t, do I?
LISA FORBES: No you don’t, but if we could create more jobs by getting this money in, we could invest in our infrastructure. We could invest in our NHS. We could pay people a living wage, and we could bring the deficit down fairly in that way. And I think that this is what this is about at the end of the day. It’s about fairness. It’s about people feeling that they’re struggling while companies are being allowed to get away with paying billions in tax.
PAUL STAINTON: Well representing the interest of businesses across Cambridgeshire and the Chief Executive of the Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce, John Bridge. John, morning.
JOHN BRIDGE: Yes good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: Welcome to the spat. Welcome to the fall-out? This is not good. A prospective Prime Minister falling out with just about every head of business there is. Continue reading “Lisa Forbes and John Bridge on Ed Miliband and big business”

Tim Bick on the City Deal

10:07 Thursday 3rd April 2014
BBC Radio Cambridge

[A]NDIE HARPER: Two weeks ago, during the Budget, it was announced that Cambridge would receive £500 million in a grant from the Government. The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the City Deal would create more jobs for local people and improve transport links. He’s back in Cambridge today to meet workers and residents. But how will the money from the Deal actually achieve these targets? And is it good news for local people? Tim Bick is the Leader of Cambridge City Council and he joins me in the studio now. Tim, good morning to you.
TIM BICK: Good morning Andie.
ANDIE HARPER: So I suppose before we go any further, let’s just outline the money, what it is, how we’re going to get it, where it’s going to come from, because there has been already some discussion about the conditions and one thing and another. So in simple terms, what are we going to get and how?
Continue reading “Tim Bick on the City Deal”

A14 Spittals Upgrade Cancelled

17:23 Tuesday 4th February 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: The U-turn on the proposed improvements to the notorious Spittals Interchange, Junction 23 of the A14 at Huntingdon, has been branded ludicrous by local businesses. The Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce say excuses for cancelled works no longer hold water with them. Well I’ll be talking to them in just a moment or two, but first of all let’s see what reason the Highways Agency has given for this latest decision. The Asset Development Manager, the man who made the decision, is called Alan Kirkdale.
Continue reading “A14 Spittals Upgrade Cancelled”

A14 Toll Road Not Certain Under Labour

17:07 Monday 23rd September 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: The future of one of our most important road links has been thrown into doubt by the Labour Party. The plan to replace a busy stretch of the A14 through Cambridgeshire with a toll road has been put out to consultation. Many respected organisations have expressed their concerns. Here’s Stephen Joseph from the Campaign For Better Transport.
(TAPE)
STEPHEN JOSEPH: The effects of putting on this toll haven’t been thought through. The evidence from tolls elsewhere, from the M6 toll road, is that actually there’s quite a lot of diversion. People go quite a long way not to pay a toll. So our concern is that the A14 road won’t solve the problems on the A14, and it might make things worse over a much wider area.
(LIVE)
CHRIS MANN: Well now Labour says it could scrap the plan if it wins the next election. MP Maria Eagle the Shadow Transport Secretary has been speaking to BBC Look East’s Andrew Sinclair at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton. And here’s what she had to say.
(TAPE)
MARIA EAGLE: Well I’m concerned about the potential, in a small and densely populated island, of the capacity for people just to go off, increasing congestion on other routes. And so I think that they’ve got to be careful. What they’ve come up with isn’t at all convincing. It’s not convincing that it would be better, or that it would work. And so I think that we would certainly be wanting to have a look at whether or not what they’re proposing is the right way forward.
ANDREW SINCLAIR: Would you go as far as to say you would scrap the toll road if you win the next election?
MARIA EAGLE: Well I think we need to look at how far they’ve got – there are things getting delayed out of the Department for Transport – and let’s see in detail what they’re proposing, and whether or not we think it would work. I think there’s some unconvincing evidence. For example the M6 toll has never made money, and people just use other roads that are nearby. So I think we need to have a close look at whether what they’re proposing will actually do what they say it does, and whether it will work. We will certainly do that.
ANDREW SINCLAIR: Can I just ask you a bit more about this congestion business? Because your concern, from what I gather, is that it will just lead to congestion on other roads. I just wondered if you could explain what your concern is really.
MARIA EAGLE: If we look at what’s happened where we’ve had tolls like the M6 toll, everybody just stayed on the old M6, and they run up onto other roads, many of which aren’t designed for heavy traffic. And so you get displacement, you get more congestion, you get worse air quality. So I think we need to look at whether their proposals would actually work. And I don’t think they’ve been very convincing so far. And so I think we would have a close look at how far they’ve got, what they’re saying, whether or not it would work.
ANDREW SINCLAIR: The Government says it will be a very low toll, about a pound, one pound fifty for every car, the hope being that everyone will want to use the toll.
MARIA EAGLE: The evidence of toll roads, the M6 toll for example, people avoided it. So I think we have to have a look very closely at what they’re proposing, and see whether or not we think it will work. (UNCLEAR) have to do that when we get to the Election. I don’t think that they’re going to have got very far with this by the time we get to the Election. So it will give us an opportunity to have a closer look at what the right way forward is.
ANDREW SINCLAIR: But if a toll road isn’t they way forward, how do you afford the improvements for that road?
MARIA EAGLE: Well look I think we need to have a close look at the entire situation. The thing is they have allocated money for improvements to roads, and new road building. I think we need to do this in the context of the entire programme that they’re proposing, not just deal with a road one at a time. certainly I don’t expect them to have got very far with this, and so that does give an opportunity to have a proper look at the right way forward.
ANDREW SINCLAIR: And so you’re saying that they could easily afford it if they really wanted to.
MARIA EAGLE: No. What I’m saying is I’m not convinced by their proposals, and that I’m perfectly willing to have a proper look at the best way forward for the A14, and some of these ideas more generally, once we get to the Election.
(LIVE)
CHRIS MANN: That’s Maria Eagle, the Shadow Transport Secretary talking to BBC Look East’s Andrew Sinclair. .. Let’s bring in Cambridge’s Labour Party Candidate, that’s Daniel Zeichner, who is live from Brighton at the Party Conference there. Daniel, hello to you.
DANIEL ZEICHNER: Hi Chris.
CHRIS MANN: Let’s try and flesh this out. What exactly is Labour saying? You’d scrap the whole plan, rethink the whole thing?
Continue reading “A14 Toll Road Not Certain Under Labour”

No News Is Good News – Cambs Agog On A14 Upgrade

17:19 Wednesday 26th June 2013
Drive BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

JULIAN HUPPERT: I think it’s a nationally important road, and it should be funded nationally, because it’s national taxes that will benefit. I don’t think a toll is the right thing to do. We’ll hear tomorrow about the tolling.
CHRIS MANN: Is that a hint that it might not happen?
JULIAN HUPPERT: And and and I think we will have to ..
CHRIS MANN: Oh. It is a hint that it’s not happening.
JULIAN HUPPERT: Wait and see what happens tomorrow.
CHRIS MANN: Ok. Are you in the know Julian?
Continue reading “No News Is Good News – Cambs Agog On A14 Upgrade”

Cambridgeshire Chamber Boss Slams Negative Media “Pestonitis”

10:23 Thursday 25th April 2013
Andie Harper Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[A]NDIE HARPER: The UK has avoided a triple dip recession. The economy grew by 0.3% in the first three months of the year. Let’s talk to the Chief Executive of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce, John Bridge. John good morning to you.
JOHN BRIDGE: Yes, good morning Andie.
ANDIE HARPER: So first things first John, have you broken out the champagne? Are you celebrating? Continue reading “Cambridgeshire Chamber Boss Slams Negative Media “Pestonitis””