Priory Crescent: Reaction to U-turn

THE man who faced the bulk of the protests against the widening of Priory Crescent has accused Southend Council of "taking a backward step" by watering down their plans.

Former mayor Roger Weaver was cabinet member in charge of roads in 2003, when there were large protests at council meetings over the plans for the gridlocked road.

He later left the Conservative Party to join the independent Alliance Southend group on the council and eventually stood down at last month's elections.

Mr Weaver said he believed the council had been weak by deciding to dual the road only from Cuckoo Corner to the Lookers garage site, even if it did come with the lower price tag of £10.8million.

He said: "I think it is a backward step, as the arguments had been won (at the public inquiry) and the majority of the public in the town were in support of the scheme.

"From what I have seen of these proposals so far, I cannot see there is any value for money in them at all.

"I would have liked the council to have continued to press for the whole scheme to be completed.

"I don't think this will do any good at all to the traffic problems in the east of Southend."

Mr Weaver said there had originally been talk of keeping the site of the grave of the Saxon King, but there was no longer anything there to protect - a fact he claimed had been confirmed by archaeologists.

He added: "Certainly nothing of value remains on the site and I seem to remember hearing the protesters had dug tunnels into it."

Mr Weaver said it had also been agreed by the cabinet that there should be no major new developments of either homes or busineses in the area without the road being made a dual carriageway throughout.

He said: "It seems they are now prepared to renege on this decision."

Blingers 'did not influence decision'

SOUTHEND Council leader Nigel Holdcroft has denied Camp Bling protesters had any influence on the cabinet's decision to scale back the Priory Crescent project.

Mr Holdcroft said the plan had been devised because it was deemed to be the best option all round.

He told the Echo: "The presence of Camp Bling has not affected our decision. If this scheme meets their aspirations with regard to the burial ground, then so be it. I am not going to reject the only sensible compromise available to us simply because it also suits them.

"To do so would be a classic case of cutting off our nose to spite our face.

"I am also not prepared to waste substantial sums of council taxpayers' money by trying to forcibly evict them and then secure the site against re-entry."

Despite the criticisms of the new plan from opposition parties, business leaders and the public - who have inundated the Echo's website with comments - Mr Holdcroft maintained most residents were proud of the Saxon king and wanted to protect its historical significance.

He said: "It was, of course, discovered in the first place because of the preliminary road investigations.

"There remains the possibility of future excavation when funds are available and to find a suitable home for the finds reamains a central priority for the council.

"To commemorate the site with an appropriate artistic monument seems the appropriate way forward."

Camp Bling's spirit lives on

SOUTHEND Council's decision to safeguard the Saxon king's burial site at Priory Park has done little to dampen the campaigning spirit of environmental protesters.

Shaun Qureshi, member of campaign group Parklife, said he believed the scaling back of the dual carriageway plans was a poor attempt to silence public criticism.

Parklife, the Priory Park Preservation Society and Camp Bling residents - who set up on the burial site to protect it - have agreed to reject the council's new plans for the road.

Mr Qureshi said: "Newly-elected council leader Nigel Holdcroft had the opportunity to do the right thing for all concerned against the road, but has managed to do half a job by cancelling only half the scheme.

"We now have a situation where both Mr Holdcroft and ousted ex-council leader Anna Waite have developed a plan to spend £10.8million - still over three times the cost originally agreed with central Government - to build half a road that was clearly not going to work in the first place. Even when considering the track record of the local authority over the past six years on this issue, this takes some beating. We are sure the people who have supported the campaign so magnificently will see through this cynical ploy to neutralise local concerns."

Mr Qureshi said despite the concession to the Saxon king burial ground, Priory Park still remained under threat from the plan, as 47 mature trees would be lost along Priory Crescent to allow for the road widening.

He said: "We have always been opposed to the widening of Priory Crescent, either in part or in full. Though we have yet to see the full detail for the scheme, any widening will still have impacts on Priory Park."

Compromise dismays bosses

BUSINESS leaders have added their voices to the chorus of discontent over the new Priory Crescent plan.

John Clayton, chief executive of Essex Chambers of Commerce, criticised the council for years of inaction and for coming up with a compromise that would not do what it promised.

He said: "There will still be the problem of a single carriageway along much of the length of Priory Crescent.

"While the improvements at Cuckoo Corner will be welcome, I cannot see these proposals actually achieving anything.

"From the point of view of businesses in the town, I think the most important thing is that we would like to see something actually happening. There has been talk about widening Priory Crescent for years but when it comes down to it, nothing has actually happened on the ground."

Mike Gray, managing director of Dedman Prop-erty Services and a former director of regeneration firm Renaissance Southend, was equally concerned.

He said: "As far as I can see, what will happen is that you will finish up with the only bit of single carriageway road on the whole way from Shoeburyness to London.

"If we are just going to have a dual carriageway for a bit of the road, then we are not going to gain the benefits which were suggested by the original scheme."

'Clear' Labour claim a victory

LABOUR councillors have claimed the Tories' backtracking was a victory for their consistent opposition to the Priory Crescent scheme.

Mike Royston, transport spokesman for the party on the council, said Labour had been "clear and forthright" in its condemnation of the project since its inception, and was the only group on the council to have opposed it the whole way.

He added: "This road widening would have been a complete waste of money, as well as being environmentally damaging, which is why I have always been opposed to it.

"My main regret is that, because of their obsession with this project, the Conservatives running Southend Council may have missed chances to deliver more practical transport improvements for the borough.

"We will be looking at the new proposals carefully to see if they are a genuinely sensible way forward."