Norman Baker MP Member of Parliament for Lewes constituency
|Home
Contact Norman at:
Norman Baker,
23 East Street,
Lewes,
East Sussex,
BN7 2LJ.
Tel: (01273) 480281.
Fax: (01273) 480287.
Email: info
This website has been partly paid for from the funds made available to every MP to assist them in communicating with and representing their constituents.
Printed and hosted by Pipex Communications UK Ltd, Humber Buildings, Humber Rd, Beeston, Notts, NG9 2ET. Published and promoted by Norman Baker MP, House of Commons, Westminster, London SW1A 1AA. The views expressed are those of Norman Baker, not of the service provider.
2003 (and previous) press releases
Government Goes Off the Rails and Onto the Roads. Norman Baker slams road building plans for the South Coast
Local MP Norman Baker has slammed the government's transport plans for Sussex as "environmentally and technically flawed" in a House of Commons debate he initiated on the South Coast Multi-Modal Study.
Mr Baker told MPs: "My worst fears have been borne out by the report that Halcrow, the company undertaking the study, has produced. It comprises 80 pages, of which only 4 are on bus and rail." Mr Baker estimates that 54% of the £1.1bn budget is being allocated to roads with just 2% being given to buses.
The government have handed the rail network over to the Strategic Rail Authority. With limited funds low priority, Mr Baker warns that "many rail services proposed in the multi modal study will not be progressed." Key concerns are:
- No plans to open the Lewes - Uckfield line
- No electrification of the Hastings - Ashford line is proposed
- No electrification of the Uckfield - Oxted line is proposed
- The Polegate - Pevensey loop will not go ahead
In sharp contrast to the lack of investment in the railways, new road schemes in the Multi-Modal Study look set to be given the green light, despite government promises that road building is "a last resort".
Mr Baker hit out at the new scheme for the section of the A27 between Lewes and Beddingham as "clumsy, rushed cut-and-paste job." In a further twist, the MP won an important concession from Transport Minister David Jamieson, who agreed to hold a consultation exercise in Lewes - which has so far been bypassed in canvassing opinion.
Speaking about his debate, Norman Baker says:
"The government's transport plans for the South Coast have hit the buffers. Rail improvements have been shunted off-track while a green light has been given to road building schemes. The Multi-Modal Study is flawed and unbalanced, and Halcrow need to go back to the drawing board to consider a broader range of options."