Correspondence between a villager and Philip Davies MP
Dear Philip
Davies,
Having attended the Neighbourhood Forum in Saltaire last
week, I am shocked and disgusted by the council's
ridiculous 'early stage' plan for a bypass that tunnels
underneath the World Heritage site and doesn't actually
bypass it at all! It's obviously a waste of money to
look into it any further and the plans should be
scrapped. Apparently,
the reason for wanting to build the bypass is to
re-generate this section of the Aire Valley. The area
is re-generating itself by being a place of beauty,
attracting wealthy business people to live here - which in
turn has generated local businesses (offices, restaurants,
wine bars etc;). One sniff of this stupid paln and all the
money will move out, plus, the surrounding beauty (both
sounds and sights) will be destroyed. My house is
next to the railway and the building is already affected by
vibrations from that, without running a road under the
line! People are saying that you are backing the
plans, which doesn't sound right to me. Did you know that
your name is being linked with them?
Dear Ms
Thank you for your email.
I do understand your concerns. However I am sure you
appreciate that we have a chronic congestion problem in
Saltaire (especially at the roundabout) which has a
negative knock on effect on the village and other parts of
Shipley. Given transport trends this problem is only
likely to get worse.
We have secured government funding for some modifications
to the roundabout which will hopefully alleviate the
problem but will by no means solve the congestion
issue. I think it would be negligent of me and
Bradford Council to simply bury our heads in the sand and
avoid making any difficult decisions to try to resolve this
issue which will damage the local economy if not addressed.
Nobody is more committed to preserving the World Heritage
site and I played a large part in ensuring additional
protection to World Heritage sites was included in the
Culture Media and Sport select committee report on this
issue (I sit on this committee) which has persuaded the
government to put some additional safeguards in place.
I therefore do support the Council in looking at certain
options to see if they are viable or not. It may be
that some of the possible routes for a bypass are either
not viable or not desirable, but we would be avoiding our
responsibilities to try to avoid even looking at these
options.
These are extremely long term plans and local residents
will quite rightly always be closely involved in any
discussions and their views will be fully taken into
account.
I hope this makes my position clear and I am sorry if you
do not support my stance on this.
Yours sincerely
Philip Davies MP
Dear Mr Davies
Thank you for making your position clearer. I also
appreciate the congestion problems and, personally, I
therefore mostly use the excellent public transport
facilities that are in the area rather than my car.
Unfortunately, I don't agree that tunnelling underneath the
World Heritage site is "safeguarding" it.
Vibrations and old buildings just do not go together.
Are you aware that we were only shown one option for a
bypass at the Neighbourhood Forum? It appears to me
that the the council are not investigating routing options
but option - i.e. singular. I don't believe that any
previous consultation has included local residents.
Do you know of any earlier consultation with Saltaire
residents, for example with the Saltaire Village Society?
Dear Ms
I do not speak for the Council and nor would I wish to do
so. I therefore cannot comment on what discussions
the Council have had with the Saltaire Village
Society. As you may know I have met with the Saltaire
Village Society to discuss issues of local concern and will
continue to do so. I understand that various plans have
been explored in the past for a saltaire bypass which
enabled the public to make their views known.
Producing the plans at the Neighbourhood Forum was I
presume borne out of a desire to make local residents aware
at a very early stage of what they are looking at.
The fact that we have a World Heritage Site makes it very
difficult for a bypass to go overground, and it is
therefore likely that any bypass would have to include some
underground elements. I am afraid that I am not a
traffic engineer and am therefore not an expert on what is
possible technically.
However I do know that there is a big issue of congestion
in Saltaire, particularly since the opening of the Bingley
Relief Road, and it is right that the Council investigate
how this might be solved. It is certainly not in the
best interests of the World Heritage Site nor local
residents for lots of rat running to take place so that
people can avoid Saltaire Road.
Of course I would welcome more people to use public
transport but we have to deal with the fact that so many
people do use their cars. Any plans for a Saltaire
bypass are many years in the future (not least due to the
likely cost of such a project) but reducing congestion at
Saltaire Roundabout is a priority for a large number of my
constituents.
Bets wishes
Philip
Dear Mr Davies
Thank you very much for replying to my e-mails. There
is one point that I am still confused about and that is
where you say that it is likely that any bypass plans would
have to include some underground elements. Do you mean that
these elements would have to be under the World Heritage
site? If a bypass is the solution to the problems at
the roundabout, couldn't it be routed along a different
line to one that has the World Heritage site in its path?
Dear
As you know the World Heritage Site covers the village of
Saltaire - not just the Mill - and UNESCO (who you will
know decide World Heritage Site status) also insist on a
buffer zone around the World Heritage Site which has to be
protected. Given the area this covers it seems to me
inevitable that at least part of the bypass will have to go
underground.
I understand that the cost of tunnels is extremely high and
so it is ideal to have as little area as possible in a
tunnel. The bypass therefore needs to preserve the
World Heritage Site, be cost effective and also be feasible
from an engineering perspective. All of these
constraints mean that there are very few practical options
for a bypass. The Council's initial plan is therefore the
one they believe best deals with all of those issues.
The plan therefore needs to be tested for feasibility and I
support their attempts to do this. Of course that
feasibility study could well conclude that their suggested
route is not satisfactory for engineering or other
reasons. However I do think they have a duty to
explore their idea.
I can assure you that is the study shows that this route
would in anyway damage the World Heritage Site I would not
support it and I am sure that Bradford Council would not
either.
I hope this at least reassures you.
Best wishes
Philip