In this month’s letter to my MP I address his update on Voter ID, and his claims on the benefits of the proposed Western Link Road.
On voter ID, remember to register and get a photo ID if you want to vote in person, and don’t already have one. Mr Mayhew says:
‘Local Elections for Broadland District Council and North Norfolk District Council are fast approaching. With photo ID now required to vote in UK elections, it’s the right time to ensure you’ve got everything you need to vote on Thursday 4th May. Don’t have photo ID? There are options:
On the Western Link, he claims:
‘I was very pleased to meet Norfolk County Council’s Western Link Team. The missing link road is one of issues most frequently raised with me. It is vital that we build this road to stop the terrible rat running that villages currently endure, reduce traffic emissions, improve access to markets for swathes of Norfolk businesses and knocks twenty minutes off ambulance response times to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital.’
Here’s my letter to Jerome Mayhew MP, I am looking forward to his reply.
Dear Mr Mayhew,
Thank you for your latest newsletter, an interesting read as always.
I’m writing in response to your updates on the Western Link Road, and Voter ID.
To address the latter first. We have never had a problem with electoral fraud in this country. This seems like a deliberate ploy by the Conservatives to exclude young voters, further alienating them, as they are less likely to vote for your Party. Why is it that student cards are not an acceptable form of ID, but bus passes for the over 60’s are? This is yet another erosion of our rights in this country, which when coupled with the PCSC Act and Public Order Bill is leaving us in a scary place (1930’s Germany-like).
On the Western Link. Your newsletter claims this is one of the most frequently raised issues with you; I wonder if you count the number of people that are against it in your tally? I know I have corresponded on this with you before, but why is it so vital we build this road given the damage it’s going to do? Rat running in villages is not pleasant, but set against ecological destruction, environmental damage, increased emissions we can’t afford and the impacts these will have in terms of increased floods, wildfires, and harvest failures in Norfolk, I’d take rat running; I live in the countryside and have to contend with some of this myself.
On the rat-running front, there are other avenues that can be explored, such as camera controlled gates (they have these in Trowse now).
You say the road will reduce emissions, how exactly? Building the road will blow Norfolk’s carbon budget for a start, and it is proven that increasing the number of roads increases the amount of cars/traffic, and thus emissions. I did a quick internet search and found this study on it, from the Government website – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/induced-travel-demand-an-evidence-review . There are plenty of other studies out there, however the evidence is that road capacity improvements increase traffic – induced travel demand.
You also claim the road will increase access to markets for swathes of Norfolk businesses. Which markets and which businesses? As this CPRE report states, new roads do not equal economic benefit – https://www.cpre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/TheZendZofZtheZroad.pdf
This report also backs up the induced traffic effect I referred to earlier.
Moving on to ambulance response times. I think a more pressing concern is the wait times ambulances have to offload patients when they get to the N&N, which I hope have improved after recent issues. The NHS is massively underfunded and under constant attack by the Government, who seem intent on privatising it. Your claim that it will reduce ambulance response times by 20 minutes is spurious, as surely it won’t really make any difference for much of Norwich, where ambulances will still need to travel into the City. I don’t think we have a problem with ambulance response times (see – http://www.ambulanceresponsetimes.co.uk/), I think it’s more a fundamental problem with a lack of support for our doctors, nurses, and hospital infrastructure, and what happens when ambulances reach hospitals.
So, we’ve debunked the emissions point, as well as the economic benefits, and addressed the ambulance response times point. In addition this road was going to cost £64m a mile if it goes ahead, probably more now. We’re in a cost of living crisis and Norfolk County Council are slashing public services, including welfare, people are going hungry, homeless and can’t afford heating. Wouldn’t it be better to spend this money on public and active transport, as well as welfare services? Investing in public transport and reducing personal car ownership is really where we need to go in terms of reducing congestion and emissions; I really liked the £2 cap on bus fares recently. The cost could also severely damage the county council’s finances if government funding is not secured; less likely now Liz Truss is no longer PM.
Please consider withdrawing your support for this road. It’s going to destroy ancient woodland, rare chalk stream habitat, endangered Barbastelle bat colonies, and pollute the local landscape. It will increase traffic and emissions because that’s what new roads do. The road is also a blatant move to open up the Norfolk countryside to more development and destruction, for the profit of a few.
I look forward to hearing from you, and would welcome an opportunity to discuss in person at one of your surgeries, if possible?
Yours sincerely,
James Harvey
I’d encourage everyone to write to your MP on issues you feel strongly about. With the right to protest being eroded we need to make our views known. If you’re unable to get out on the streets then at least write a quick email.
Here are a few recent pictures of Gideon, cos he didn’t want to be left out.
And a couple of things I dug up from my garden recently, which were most excellent. Looking forward to planting more vegetables this year, especially with supermarket shortages and prices going up.
Thanks Dad for the leek seedlings!
Self Propelled 