Safety projects sacrificed to bail out guided bus (North East Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats)

North East Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats <info@fenlandlibdems.org.uk>

Safety projects sacrificed to bail out guided bus

June 7, 2010 3:39 PM

Major safety and transport projects for Wisbech have been sacrificed to pay for Cambridgeshire's £116 million guided bus.

The county's Tories, struggling to close a black hole in their finances, have indefinitely postponed the schemes included in a £1 million county package of improvements.

Among the projects in Wisbech that have been put on hold are:

• new bus stops costing £25,000;

• safety improvements costing £100,000;

• town centre cycle parking costing £15,000.

They have been put on the back burner after the guided bus, which will take commuters from St Ives into Cambridge city and bring no benefits for Fenland, ran into financial trouble.

North East Cambridgeshire's parliamentary spokesman Lorna Spenceley said: "These cuts to the Market Town Strategy Fund have hit Wisbech hard. The biggest single project planned for Wisbech - local safety improvements - has been stopped, as the money is no longer there. Improvements for bus users and cyclists have also been scrapped.

"The guided busway will bring no benefit to this part of the county. Why on earth should our community be footing the bill for it?"

Fenland District Councillor Dave Patrick said: "It is completely unacceptable that people from Wisbech should be paying through the nose for a busway which has no relevance to them. The projects being postponed might be small, but they matter to local people.

"Wisbech needs safety improvements, as well as better access for cyclists and bus users. But all of these are being set aside to pay for the blundering busway. I'm disgusted that the Conservative county council has siphoned off money from the public purse to pay for this scheme, after three Tory leaders promised not to do this.

"To be frank, I think Jill Tuck has sold out the interests of her Wisbech constituents to bail out the guided bus. The Tories have short-changed Fenland yet again."