New fears for bypass as councils braced for cuts
COUNCILS throughout South Devon face cuts in jobs and services as the Government bids to wipe billions off the national debt.
There were new fears today for the future of the Kingskerswell bypass plans and other regeneration projects.
-
Of the plans for an immediate £6.25billion cut in 'wasteful' public spending announced by Chancellor George Osborne yesterday, almost £1.2billion would come from local government through axing individual cash grants to councils.
The Department for Transport confirmed that it would cut £309million in specific grants to local authorities, which will see some road improvement schemes deferred — in Nottingham, between London and Brighton and on the M6 in the Midlands.
Anne Marie Morris, MP for Newton Abbot, said: "We have a huge deficit and it is right and proper that we seek to do something about it. That is going to be very painful but we need to do it in a sensitive way.
"The bypass, clearly it puts that at risk but I am lobbying alongside Adrian Sanders. We will do our level best to see the bypass built. But this puts a question mark over it."
Mr Sanders said: "If the council thinks there is any knock-on effect at all to the Kingskerswell bypass then they only need to call in the MPs from the area and we will go off and do battle for them.
"Something has to be done.
"The bottom line is that front line services to the public are not being cut and I think that is the big difference that the Lib Dems have made to this round of cuts."
The Regional Development Agency, which has ploughed millions into Torbay in recent years, also faces big cuts.
Council leaders throughout the South West, including Torbay Mayor Nick Bye, will be discussing the consequences of the cuts at a meeting of the South West Strategic Leaders' group today.
He said: "Everything is always in the detail and we will have to have our MPs fighting for us in Westminster and I will be doing everything I can in the region."
Teignbridge Council leader Cllr Alan Connett said he could not say what impact the cuts may have on the authority or the future of the South Devon link road until the details are known.
He said: "We are a well-run council which has not increased council tax for several years.
"We took £900,000 from our own budget to reduce staff salary.
"It is early days but once we know the details we will have a proposal in place."
Cllr John Tucker, leader of South Hams District Council, said: "Until we know the finer details it is difficult to make any comments on possible future effects to our services."
Dr Sarah Wollaston, MP for Totnes, said: "We have to make sure that we push strongly for the need for the Kingskerswell bypass. It is key to the regeneration of the area.
"We are going to have to see big cuts happen across a number of departments. We can't continue to spend money that we don't have."
Devon County Council leader John Hart said: "We can't go on borrowing £1 for every £4 we spend — we've all seen the economic chaos that is causing in Greece and some of the other European countries.
"Mr Osborne is now doing nationally what we have been doing in Devon for the past 12 months."
A Department for Transport spokesman said the new Government was in its early stages and would look at transport schemes individually.
He said there were three highways improvement schemes which had spending planned this year, and were due to start. They have been deferred.
Torbay Mayor Mr Bye revealed he had written to the new transport minister recently.
He said he had received acknowledgement of the letter from new Transport Minister Phillip Hammond yesterday.
The letter outlined the need for the £130million bypass and its importance for the economic regeneration of the area.
Only last week Mr Bye met executives of the RDA and Government Office South West where he asked for Torbay to be made a special case for future funding.
He claims his appeals fell on 'deaf ears'.
It was made after new figures showed the resort has the weakest economy in the South West, and on a par with some Eastern European countries.
Top executives at the GOSW and the RDA described the meeting as 'productive' and 'constructive' and pledged their continued support for Torbay.
But Mr Bye described the meeting as 'frustrating' and said afterwards: "It seems outrageous to me. It's not as if we are a small area, Torbay has a sizeable population of 130,000.
"We wanted them to recognise Torbay as a priority area. We now have very, very strong evidence that not only is our economy weaker than Cornwall, or our unemployment one of the highest in the region, but figures show we have real deprivation.
"But unfortunately our appeal fell on deaf ears.
"We know there will be less and less funding and that there are question marks over the future of the RDA and the GOSW under the new government, but we feel they could have been more helpful."
However, Jon Bright, regional director for the Government Office for the South West, said: "The Government Office for the South West and the South West RDA are very keen to help Torbay find a solution to its economic problems.
"That is why I and the chief executive of the RDA held a very constructive meeting with the Mayor last week at which we agreed a number of actions.
"We will continue to support the Mayor and his team with local partners to address the very real challenges for the people of Torbay."
Ian Thompson, area director for the RDA, said: "It was particularly useful to discuss in detail the current conditions and the challenges facing the Torbay economy."
It is understood the South West RDA is also set to see its £120million budget cut by £23million.
The likes of South Devon College may benefit with £500million of the cuts identified being used instead to fund other projects, including £50million towards building at further education colleges, new apprenticeship places, and 4,000 social housing homes.
31 Comments
View all
by Adam, Paignton
Thursday, May 27 2010, 10:54AM
“'Paul, Kingskerswell'
Totally agree with you, I have travelled this road countless times over the years at all times of the day, and if they just put a footbridge where the traffic lights are at the 'Sloop', there would be hardly any traffic build up at all, and I don't just mean coming from Exeter towards the bay, I mean this would stop the stupid traffic build up coming from the bay too, which once past the 'Sloop', mysteriously peters out to flowing traffic, albeit fairly slow at peak times once past that junction.
And yes I watched the report from the BBC also, and as stated, think it was an embarrassment, Nick Bye standing there so smug, telling us how busy it was when clearly the traffic was flowing with no problems at all as is rthe case most of the time .
Sure there are ulterior motives for wanting this bypass !”
by howard, torquay
Thursday, May 27 2010, 8:22AM
“i use to travel the a308 4 times a week night and day i found it to be a dangerous road, get stuck behind a truck and you have had it the dual carriage ways end to soon ,its a hodge podge of a road”
by John, Marldon, Paignton
Wednesday, May 26 2010, 10:43AM
“I would urge anyone interested in this subject to view the Kingskerswell Alliance's excellent video entitled "The Road to Nowhere" which is freely available on Google.
The real reason Messrs Bye Sanders and Co. want a new road built is to open up land for development not to relieve traffic congestion. The proposed route will merely shift the congestion to the already overloaded Tweenaway Traffic Lights.
The Kingskerswell Alliance address all three bottlenecks on the existing road and have come up with sound proposals for addressing each problem in turn. Their improvement scheme would cost £60 million instead of £132 million for a new road which would split the village in 2 and desecrate some beautiful countryside.
If similar suitable remedial work had been carried out years ago on the A380 it would have cost a lot less and made life a lot easier for those using it at peak traffic times. Instead of that the powers that be have sat back on their backsides and talked merely of a new road to solve the problem. Fine for them - their home would not be affected by the proposed new road. Procrastination and hypocrisy are the words which spring to mind!”
by Jane, Paignton
Wednesday, May 26 2010, 8:49AM
“Just a small suggestion. I got stuck in a big queue just before Christmas. There was a trader in the Aller Lay-by displaying wooden garden ornaments, and everyone was slowing down for a good gawp. It may be a good place to display stuff for sale, but if it causes a hold-up, perhaps it shouldn't be allowed?”
by howard, torquay
Wednesday, May 26 2010, 8:21AM
“we will soon have it bumper to bumper , look at the traffic now and the seasons not started ,does any one know where i can buy a pedal ice cream cart , like i used to see has a kid , theres a fortune to be made riding up and down the traffic jam COME AND GET YOUR HOKEY POKEY LOVELEA ICEA CREMA”
by Oldershag, Kingdom of Shag Rock
Wednesday, May 26 2010, 12:37AM
“Having spent 24 years of travelling the A380 between Torquay and Newton Abbot, sometimes twice a day, in all that time I was never late for work and never late home for my dinner, I have type of wife that puts the dinner in the dig if you are five minutes late. This road is busy but not that busy.
I am with my brother in law at Solihull, he is a property developer, a good and respected one, he had a look st this thread and laughed at my spelling but he did say that Torquay and South Devon are no go areas for developers and Exeter appears to be the extent of their ventures, after catching a cold in Plymouth and Cornwall.
I have worked in mail order for a number of years abd the opeation moved from the Bay to Newton Abbot, the firm was offered a deal that was a no brainer and we grabbed it with both hands, in Newton you have two of the largest mail order businesses in the UK, they also had call centres that were moved to India. The Royal Mail moved their operations from Plymouth to Bristol as this is where the business customers are now, Bristol and the M4 corridor, the new silicone valley in the UK.
Rob also commented on the attitude of the Torbay Council, these developer guys are not silly and read local news sites and what they read tells a
story. He says his business is on the up now. He also smiled about Oldway and I never mentioned the place. He thinks Urban Splash could be playing a game, apparently some companies get a site and a job and sell it on...I am not saying that is what is happening to Oldway.
Me I am retired now but can remember this story from years ago from when it was single carriageway and the AA patrols were on motor bike from Aller layby and coppers controlled the traffic on foot, am I that old???
These developers must be having giggle at Bye, Lewis, Carroll, Parrock and Sanders and their cockeyed ways.
Did I not read that the new conninglibs wanted only the twelve largest cities having an elected Mayor so where does that leave Torbay...hardly a city and a very small town...does this mean our elected mayor may be gone soon, well he will never be elected in by us anyway?”
by Darren Cowell, Torquay
Tuesday, May 25 2010, 11:34PM
“Mr Forgetful may be living up to his name.
Labour delivered £2.2m to Torbay in the way of grants from the Sea Change Programme. Many other resorts also benefited from this scheme.
Torbay also saw inward investment via the RDA; the infrastucture for the White Rock business park is a good example.
I have every faith that the Labour Party will continue to ensure the interests of Tourism and seaside resorts should be looked after.
As far as the by-pass is concerned, successive governments have not funded it - including during the Thatcher/Major years.
Maybe Mr Forgetful would like to read Labour's dedicated Seaside Manifesto at http://www2.labour.org.uk/uploads/b64c7386-b057-7204-bd20-8e8c1b847bdd.pdf”
by jimmy, Torquay
Tuesday, May 25 2010, 6:47PM
“WOW Yet another excuse for not building the nic bye-pass, LOL
The sooner tor-bay falls on its ass because no-one wants to come here and traders move elsewhere the better!”
by Edwin Jefferson, Plymouth
Tuesday, May 25 2010, 5:14PM
“Travelled along the road today, leaving from Torre and seeing traffic built up around the roundabout at Kerswell Garden Centre thought I'd made the wrong choice of route. Turned out it was a broken down lorry and the drive, took me 10 minutes.
And before an impartial observer remarks, yes, I was driving as part of my work.
Has anybody here ever tried going to Teignmouth in the summer?”
by Mr Forgetful, Torbay
Tuesday, May 25 2010, 5:11PM
“Darren Cowell has a short memory. The New Labour government did not fund a link road during all of the years of affluence. After the recession and the bank bailout, the Lib-Cons are making cuts.
I will be interested what all of the New Labour candidates will be proposing in their leadership bids for seaside towns, and in particular Torbay and its link road. It should make interesting reading.”