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”