Presentation:
This first half of this months meeting was dominated by the funding plans for the Sudbury relief road to be discussed with 34 other projects by the East of England Regional Assembly (EERA) around the end of January (exact date is unknown). The meeting is to discuss the priority of all these projects and our objective is to have our ‘Relief Road’ moved up the list.
In attendance at our meeting was Sudbury Society chairman Nick Hallidie who briefed the meeting with the latest position.
“There is to be a meeting on the 16th January of Suffolk County Council to agree their priorities before the EERA meeting. This is to be followed by a Sudbury Town public meeting chaired by Andrew Phillips, both Guy McGregor (Portfolio holder for Roads and Transport) and Peter Grimm have said they will attend and give a presentation of the current situation and all the factors on Thursday 22nd January in the Town Hall at 7 pm. Our two local County Councillors, Jack Owen and Colin Spence have both said they will attend. Nick then highlighted two issues he raised with Guy McGregor at a meeting on the 13th January as significant to why the priority should be escalated. Firstly, there is a significant pollution problem in Cross Street, which is way above the recommended European levels, and secondly the basis used for traffic counts made in 2003 was flawed”.
Barry Wall presented a ‘walkthrough’ of the proposed route (see map) of the relief road, stressing how the road will be screened from view (mostly by being in a cutting) and that it does not go anywhere near or across the water meadows (contrary to many peoples perceptions). Barry also advised that the history society is preparing a document that will explain the damage done by traffic and the fact that the design & heritage of a uniquely laid out town is slowly being eroded by not taking a significant amount of traffic out of Sudbury. A letter is to be sent to the meeting on the 16th January highlighting the History Society’s views and calling for more attention to the historical aspects of Sudbury that are being destroyed by heavy volumes of traffic, a problem that can only be resolved by implementing a relief road.
Barry Wall asked for as many members as possible to attend the Town Hall meeting on the 22nd January at 7pm and advised members to be constructive & positive with their views.
