Immediate Release 29 April 1997

A letter sent by Highways Agency Project Manager David Mills to a local resident has blown the cover on the politicians' attempts to hide the fact that the Chieveley Intersection will not be built for many years to come. Campaigners will be leafleting motorists tomorrow, telling them that this will smash the centrepiece of the road building programme promoted by local politicians and prospective MP for Reading East John Watts, and rendering the road useless.

Mr Mills concludes that there is "no timetable" and "funds have not been allocated". He said "we are looking at the opportunity to carry out smaller scale improvements". This is likely to involve widening the left lane of the A34 on to the M4, which will not do much to alleviate the delays which already occur due to high traffic volumes.

Adrian Foster-Fletcher of CAMBUS said: "If the Chieveley Intersection is not going to be built then work on the Newbury Bypass should be stopped today, saving the taxpayer £50m. The prime reason for this road was supposed to be to take the traffic lights off the A34, but now two sets will remain. This bottleneck will cause standing traffic back to Speen intersection with the A4, which will gridlock the western side of Newbury, including all the new houses."

He continued: "We want common sense to prevail over political expediency. Now is the time for national politicians to take the first steps to a sensible transport policy and scrap the road."

Local campaigner Mrs Jill Eisele said: " The Highways Agency can be assured that any new Public Enquiry [1] would become an exceptionally hotly contested and high profile event. It would be very time consuming and costly."

ENDS

Editors Notes

Campaigners will gather at the Chieveley Junction lights next to the Stakis Hotel at 8am on Weds 30th April to hand out leaflets to motorists, followed by a guided tour of the roundabout in a large car carrying placards. Further info and on site liaison Martin Jakes

[1] A challenge by Mr Ellison of Beedon Parish Council to validity of the side road orders was upheld in the High Court. In order to proceed new side road orders must be produced and these would be challenged in the resulting Public Enquiry.