A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a Lancashire County press release regarding another road study for Ormskirk. I’ve been completely remiss in not posting this earlier.
Anyhow the press release states:
Lancashire County Council has drawn up a brief for transport consultants who are being asked to assess options and prioritise a range of schemes to tackle congestion and enhance people’s ability to travel more easily.
So, the Tories win control of the Council and the first thing they do is get in a bunch of consultants – at goodness knows what cost – to find out what the people in Ormskirk could probably tell them already!
Perhaps that’s what happens when we have a County Councillor from Parbold.
But, some of this should be welcomed. They say that some of the schemes to be evaluated are:
– Bus improvements
– Park and ride
– Rail service improvements
– Personalised travel planning
– Cycling improvements
– Pedestrian enhancements
– Improvements to the carriageway, junctions and pedestrian facilities on the A570
– Park Road to A59 County Road Link
Ormskirk traffic management improvements including, through traffic rerouting, HGV control, gyratory options and traffic speed controls
It is estimated that the study will take 3-4 months to complete.
During the campaign I argued for such a review and so I can’t help but welcome the fact that one is taking place, but I am critical of the fact that there seems to be no local input at all. We don’t know if this is going to be a relatively minor tweak of the road system or a proper re-engineering of the way the town’s roads work.
The people who live and work in the town have the best knowledge of the road problems, and as I’ve always argued, it’s not just about the Ormskirk bypass – there are problems scattered across the town. There ought to be some significant public input to the process.
Instead, we’re left in the dark and we’ll be told to just take what the Tories and their consultants insist in a couple of months time.
I will be pushing for a some public consultation and review once the consultant’s report has been produced.