Council Boss Voices Support for Road Tolls
Roger Lawrence, leader of Wolverhampton City Council, and transport leader for the West Midlands Metropolitan Authorities, has spoken of his support for the government's plans to impose road tolls. Lawrence claims that road tolls will free the roads of congestion and boost the economy. He neglected to say who they would free the roads for, nor explain why businesses shouldn't relocate outside of the West Midlands to cut costs.
He is councillor for St Peter's Ward, which includes the city centre.
Wolverhampton City Council — Cllr Roger Lawrence
 
 
Congestion set to continue
Congestion on the M5 and M6 through the West Midlands is set to continue for a while yet as the government have scrapped plans for a western bypass. The plan was already a step back from earlier plans for a western motorway to complete an orbital loop with the M42 and M6 Toll. Vigorous campaigning by anti-car groups and NIMBYs has stopped any building for now. The ABD will continue to push for the completion of the orbital motorway, until we get a government that puts the needs of drivers and businesses above the vociferous minority.
 
 
Traffic Hump Winners
This letter from our Wolverhampton local co-ordinator recently appeared in a local paper:
 
Congratulations to residents in the following a roads you have come first in Wolverhampton City Council's Grand end of the year traffic hump draw.
I am reliably informed that the council has in the region of 130 traffic humps to splatter around the city by April budget deadline to meet their budget commitment and secure next year's grant.
The public announcement stated the very lucky winners were Wendell Wynd, Peter Avenue, Attlee Crescent, Attlee Crescent/ Oliver Crescent Junction, Peter, Avenue / Brierley Hill Junction, Wendell Wynd/ Batman's Hill Rd.
I would remind all the residents who live in these roads that they have until 21st February 2003 to respond and state the grounds for any objections they may have. Should any resident a fail to respond the council will consider at his or her failure to reply as a vote for the scheme (i.e. you do not object) and will therefore add their votes to the a minority of complainants who normally complain about anything and everything.
One further point is that the council always seek the signatures of affected residents before they install the humps and chicanes, so do not be fooled into signing anything unless you realise the full implications to yourself and all of your neighbours in the road. Be warned you will only have one chance to object to this scheme and you must not fail to respond to get your voice heard.
Whether traffic calming saves any lives is very debatable, due to false figures being regularly being quoted by officials, but to the same time you must be aware that traffic calming causes delay problems for the emergency services, where a few seconds lost getting to a fire or a serious accident can have catastrophic consequences causing a greater loss of life. Furthermore it is now generally accepted that traffic calming will also detrimentally affect the resale value of all your properties in the roads I have mentioned above.
The democratic choice is yours do not waste it.

 
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