Parliamentary 90 minuted debate secured !

People called on to support A303 dualling petition

11:08am Tuesday 25th February 2014 in News By Jill Harding

THE Stonehenge Traffic Action Group (STAG) is stepping up its pressure on the Government to do more to alleviate the traffic problems on the A303.
Members are calling on local people to sign a parliamentary petition calling for the whole of the A303 to be turned into a dual carriageway.
They are angry that the A344 past Stonehenge was closed as part of the new visitor centre project, which has forced more traffic onto the roads through nearby villages.  Read the story here: http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/11034371.
“If you are as outraged by this pointless dishonesty and disruption as we are, and you want to help the whole A303 corridor achieve its full economic potential, then please sign our parliamentary petition at: http://www.sh2.co.uk    Many thanks to your readers, because this article generated many more signatures during last week....the wonders of the media eh?!!

As if the inclusion of this story in the Salisbury Journal weren't enough for one day.....we have some more good news: Salisbury MP John Glen, johnglenmp.com has e-mailed the STAG team telling us that after many weeks of applying, he has secured a 90 minute debate on the A303 in Parliament for next Tuesday March 4th between 2.30pm and 4pm.....thank you John!

This is a prominent time slot in Westminster Hall when one of our team will be in the gallery watching and listening!!!   We trust John to set out our case for finances to be freed up for our section of the A303!   Please listen on-line to the debate or catch it later, and we will of course post up on this blog.....so watch this space!!

If you have comments about the A303 problems, please write directly to John Glen at the address above.



Coming to a road near you!

New EU law could allow LHV's - Longer Heavier Vehicles - to cross our border, according to an article in the Western Gazette under their
"Dual It" campaign - read more here http://www.westerngazette.co.uk/A303-DUAL-New-laws-monster-trucks-wreak-havoc/story-20675280-detail/story.html
If you're not completely clear what one of these looks like.....it can be 3 units, 82 foot long and weighing 60 tonnes...with up to 10 axles....  
 Or as this diagram shows....6 car lengths!!

Since the early 2000s, some haulage companies in the UK had been investigating potential LHV designs and lobbying for a change in the law. Various types of LHV exist, and most of the larger types involve using extra axles, and different trailer arrangements, forming so called road trains. LHV's are supported by some hauliers as a way to increase productivity and reduce costs. Their introduction however faces opposition from rail freight, road safety and environmental groups, who want a general reduction in road traffic, and from portions of the general public over general safety and quality of life issues. 

Turning circle....

Whatever configuration of vehicle used, to be legally operated on UK roads, vehicles must adhere to the EU defined articulated vehicle turning circle regulations, which state that any vehicle must be able to navigate a turning circle around a set-point, keeping the whole of the vehicle within a corridor bounded by two circles around that point, with the inner circle having a radius of 5.3 m (17 ft 5 in), and the outer radius being 12.5 m (41 ft 0 in).   Vehicle turning circles are particularly important in the UK due to the historical existence of many narrow streets, and a high number of roundabouts......I give you the roundabout at Airman's Corner....accident waiting to happen with just an ordinary HGV!!!!  Whilst European roads/motorways are built to cope with such huge transport, our motorways far less A roads, are just not ready for anything like these huge carriers.   In addition, these vehicles are limited to 40mph on motorways...all very well but, that limit drops to 20mph on single carriageways.....can you even imagine what effect this will have on the section of the A303 past Stonehenge and on up the hill out of Winterbourne Stoke in a west bound direction.....without holiday traffic will be bad enough!!!!   I can see frustrated drivers needing to get past the huge obstruction and......I leave the rest to you!   Another problem is with our lay-bys because I certainly cannot imagine the driver of one of these LHV's being able to pull in to allow traffic built up behind to pass.   Our lay-bys are few and not long enough.....If I need to follow the advice of this sign and the only lay-by available is occupied by an 82 foot truck......



We continually read stories of cyclists coming to grief on our roads where the driver of an HGV cannot get full view of where the cyclist is, especially when they cycle up the near side and the truck may be turning left....not the HGV driver's fault but this problem will accelerate if and when LHV's are used.

This is a huge safety issue!
It certainly would be good if our local newspapers, Wiltshire County Council, The National Trust and English Heritage would get more involved and link with us at STAG in our effort to dual the A303 past Stonehenge as the Western Gazette is doing for their particular section of the A303 that needs to be dualled.

Please meet "WATCH BUSTARD"...handsome....yes?!

We at STAG keep banging on about the A303 traffic problems....you see it needs to be dualled past the World Heritage Site of Stonehenge!  Dualling should have been completed prior to the closeure of the A344....but it wasn't, so now we have TRAFFIC CHAOS especially at peak holiday time.  
Yesterday, The Daily Telegraph printed a story telling us that "Rail Watchdog"
has found out passengers are entitled to compensation for train delays up to 100% of the fare ...read more here.. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/10651794/Train-passengers-in-dark-over-delay-compensation.html
So!.......STAG thought we'd introduce:
"Watch Bustard"......handsome eh? 
Watch out for 
Watch Bustard...you won't miss him if out on Salisbury Plain:

I'm sure many of you are already aware that  English Heritage at Stonehenge Visitor's Centre have introduced a "Timed Ticket" system.   We wondered that if one misses ones time slot due to being held up on the A303, will Watch Bustard be advising Tourists who have been turned away from the Stonehenge Visitor's Centre, that they can have a 100% refund of their ticket price or if they are an hour late, they can have 50% refund?
Read more musings from Watch Bustard in due course.....but in the meantime,
please help us get the A303 dualled past Stonehenge and on to Berwick Down:
and sign our Parliamentary petition.  Also, keep up with STAG on Facebook from this address.

The Great Bustard breeding program continues on Salisbury Plain and can be followed at:
www.greatbustard.org/

They are listening in Whitehall......

I posted the following, re the floods, on a previous posting headed "Mother Nature....etc...."  "So!...what's all this got to do with STAG: Stonehenge Traffic Action Group and it's efforts to get the A303 upgraded, I hear you ask....well here comes OUR "connection"....we must not forget the disruption caused to the people and their businesses in the West Country and on down to the bottom of Cornwall. With no railway until well into the spring.....freight and passengers will be forced to take to the roads. The most used westerly route will be M4>>>>M5 and it just takes a minor incident on either of these routes, and no diversions through Somerset due to the flooding.....to bring everything to a stand still. Tourism being a major industry in the West country.....No rail....no road.....no goods.....no employment.......no economy...simples!

It's well documented, that in this area of Stonehenge, dualling the A303 has been a dedication by many for over 30 years.....long before STAG took up the gauntlet......but it does now appear that Whitehall are listening: 

Region's poor road and rail links exposed

By Western Daily Press | Posted: February 17, 2014

By Jeff wells

Read more: http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Region-s-poor-road-rail-links-exposed/story-20641823-detail/story.html#ixzz2tgmGNQUD
Ending bottlenecks on the A303 cross-country road between the South West and London could happen quicker than expected amid flooding paralysing the region's transport network.
Whitehall officials have been ordered to see if they can accelerate a study into improving the notorious A303-A30-A358 route, it has emerged.
If so, ministers want to be able to commit funding by this year's Autumn Statement, rather than 2015 as planned.  Read more: http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Region-s-poor-road-rail-links-exposed/story-20641823-detail/story.html#ixzz2tglcfy

This Country needs YOU!

Britain is still OPEN FOR BUSINESS! 
We may be having a difficult time with floods, howling gales and torrential rain, but Britain has a tourist industry and its very much open to the world!       So please don't cancel those plane tickets, or that rail ticket.....this will get better, and with the help of our wonderful emergency services, we'll keep the water out, the trees cut, the electric connected and our animals fed, so that you can still enjoy what you've come to expect from Britain!                     
  
We still need that A303 dualled past Stonehenge tho'.  Unfortunately, we have to rely on the policians for this one, and they have their hands tied right now...we'll give them a breather but we won't be letting go!   So please sign our petition on: www.sh2.co.uk and please remember to confirm you've signed on the follow up e-mail!

Utterances from Uncle Simon.....

Simon Thurley: 'With Stonehenge we had six days of bedlam. We were victims of our own success'

The chief executive of English Heritage tells Stuart Jeffries why he's no fogey and why he's proud to be English brutalism's greatest champion

  

• • Stuart Jeffries
  • The Guardian, Saturday 8 February 2014
  • Jump to comments (19)

 http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/feb/08/simon-thurley-stonehenge-brutalism-interview 

 

Stuart Jeffries has interviewed Simon Thurley about his new book: The Building of England, when a number of other utterances came out....as they do!!!.....not the least, and from a previous book: "Stonehenge has been saved from vandals and profiteers.....£14.90 per person......mmmmmh ??

 

Simon's Tweets at the opening of Stonehenge visitor's centre "no Tax Payers money was used to build our new Exhibition!"   See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Heritage check out "Funding" under the contents list......

 

During the "moanhenge" period of negative reviews earlier this year on http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/  Simon says: "We had six days of bedlam," he concedes. I put my hand up and say that the building was never designed for 1,000 people an hour. We were totally victims of our own success. Anyway we've sorted out the problem now. So half term? Bring it on!"   We locals are waiting for this particular comment to trip him up BIG TIME!

 

FROM "STAG AGONY AUNT" PAGE:

Dear Auntie Stag....Why is it, when I hear one of Simon Thurley's utterances, I keep on seeing little pork pies flying around in front of my eyes! 

And to conclude...
When Simon Thurley dies, he arrives at the Pearly Gates and is greeted by St.Peter.....
"Welcome" says St.Peter "and what is your name?"
"I thought that would have been obvious!" says Simon...."Anyway!"....."I know who you are and I expected God to meet me...not some lacky".....and why have you allowed these gates to get in such a state?"

 

New management at English Heritage making an effort?

STAG met with two representatives of English Heritage last Thursday evening.   We all need to make some effort to pull together for the same end i.e. to improve the A303 past Stonehenge.

There were however, a number points of relevance we needed to talk about before taking things further with them......these can be read on my previous blog posting headed "English Heritage adopting their own rules" vis the closure to traffic on the A344 and preventing the right of way of walkers, cyclists, wheelchairs, and riders - 24/7 according to the TRO - Traffic Regulation Order.   It did appear that these two representatives, whilst upper management, were not party to the feelings of the local community and the disgust toward English Heritage built up over many years.....so to commend them, they listened, took copious notes and appeared open minded considering the negative detail that was being thrown at them.   Among many points of discussion, we suggested some short term measures that could be put in place around the area which were previously discussed at a meeting with National Trust, toward the end of last year. 

The response to most of this, was that they meet up with N T very regularly, and there had been no mention of these amendments and they were not aware of such measures.....So! to give our visitors from E H their due, considering the meeting last Thursday finished rather late, we were able to note that by Friday afternoon, some effort had been made to make a sort of  cycle/walking path and we need to allow them more time to install the Kent Carriage Gap ....It's certainly a bit rough, not helped by the weather, but at least there has been some improvement which opens the right of way 24/7.......so good on you.... Upper management of E H for making changes so quickly, and here we refer to One - Kate Davies, General Manager! 
However, I'm not sure what happens when one reaches the "yellow jackets" at the far gate.   Is it still locked out of hours and one would need to pick up ones bike and carry it over the gate?....that is, provided one has permission.....still a breach of the TRO.

Since this was a first meeting with EH and dialog went well, we would hope to have more such meetings with a view to creating a better relationship with the wider community than in the past.

Mother Nature making her mark!

Mother nature has made herself known since December 18th, especially in the West country, with, for all we know, more rain and wind expected well into next week and beyond.  A bitter battle has broken out over the management of the Somerset Levels and the recent floods which, with continual squalls and down pours, are not going away.  Critics blame the failure to maintain the dredging of the rivers Parrett and Tone for the fact that the flood waters have still not abated. The EA said this week: “Dredging and clearing channels are important parts of the Environment Agency’s maintenance regime, and we spend £20million a year on dredging. However it is often not the best long term or economic solution compared with other flood risk measures.”
Read more: http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Commons-debate-cost-flooding-Somerset-Levels/story-20453023-detail/story.html#ixzz2sjQcWWeT..... I have this theory....listening to local people who understand local problems....might be something for the politicians to think about!!!

As if the pictures of the Somerset Levels, going around the world as we speak, were not shocking enough, we also have disruption to the rail network around the area caused by the floods with delays reported of up to 35 minutes at stations between Taunton and Bridgewater.  Check before you start your journey: http://www.journeycheck.com/firstgreatwestern   And here's more misery for rail users to Cornwall which was cut off last week by the severe weather which pulled the sea wall down at Dawlish and left the beautiful sea view rail track hanging like a roller coaster!!   The connection is not expected to be made for at least the next 6 weeks.....looks to be longer from these pictures!!!  Dawlish in better times:

 

So!...what's all this got to do with STAG: Stonehenge Traffic Action Group and it's efforts to get the A303 upgraded, I hear you ask....well here comes OUR "connection"....we must not forget the disruption caused to the people and their businesses in the West Country and on down to the bottom of Cornwall.   With no railway until well into the spring.....freight and passengers will be forced to take to the roads.  The most used westerly route will be M4>>>>M5 and it just takes a minor incident on either of these routes, and no diversions through Somerset due to the flooding.....to bring everything to a stand still.    Tourism being a major industry in the West country.....No rail....no road.....no goods.....no employment.......no economoy.....simples!   Just this morning, I've had news that the rail problem has hit other southern routes, so please check on: ttp://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/alerts.aspx before you "take to the rails".   There has been a land slip off the embankment at Botley which has closed the lines between Eastleigh and Fareham taking in routes via hedge End.....More people on the roads then......
 We need the A303 to be dualled all the way to the the "Highway to the Sun" giving tourists, business people, and supply vehicles an alternative that will not delay their onward journey which presently, the A303 cannot promise!!   Somerset County Council appear to be supportive/active in efforts to improve the A303 in their area.....I'm afraid however, Wiltshire Council need to stop GANDERFLANKING and get more involved with what we at STAG are trying to achieve!!
Please sign our Parliamentary petition to dual the A303 all way down the corridor here: www.sh2.co.uk

 

Meeting at "Stagman Towers!" Shrewton.



Way back on 22nd October 2013, I posted up "Meetings Bl---y Meetings" and STAG have had many more since.   This morning's meeting, held at "Stagman Towers" in Shrewton,
was a full storming, ideas, and going forward type meeting.  We had 8 of us around Stagman's table and the coffee was flowing!!  We discussed the many points to put to English Heritage at.....another meeting next week, so that in the future - maybe, just maybe, we can all pull together for the one aim of getting the A303 dualled past Stonehenge. There was talk about how we can involve the towns and villages all the way down the A303 corridor, getting them to come on board.   This will give us more clout when the Government decide where the money will be spent. So, basically we now have in place, some short, medium, and long term objections.    Obviously we in this area, need the support of www.wiltshire.gov.uk  BIG TIME! to help in STAG's efforts around Stonehenge...as with 12 miles of traffic held up on this section of the A303 last August Bank holiday....this summer, nobody's getting to "The Highway to Sun"!
Our new web page will be up and running very soon where you can sign the petition direct: www.sh2.co.uk and or use the links to this blog or: http://bypasswinterbournestoke.blogspot.co.uk and keep up with what's happening around STAG.  And so! back to the meeting and we at STAG have a few "haunches" up our sleeve....keep watching for our next event....coming soon...well......when the weather improves....think...Bradley Wiggins.... Carriage Driving.....and the Soap Box Derby....what fun!