Frustration!

I was so disappointed to hear that the JLTP4 will not be going to a public examination.

It appears that the four councils are ‘judge and jury’. That does not seem morally right to me. Where is the accountability? Currently, our best opportunity to object to the road and the plans for the area is through the JSP (Joint Spatial Plan) Examination in public.

I have been spending hours working on my preparation for the JSP (Joint Spatial Plan) Examination in public, it is not easy! I have spent hours trawling through online documents to put together my comments. I am taking every opportunity to establish facts, google has become my friend!

Last week, I was able to meet Karin Smyth MP for Bristol South. It was great to hear that we have her full support in our fight against having a ring road on Whitchurch Lane.

I also took the opportunity to call in at the BLP (Bristol Local Plan) drop in session at @Symes, Hartcliffe. Ray and I, had a chat to the officers who have put together the BLP. It was interesting to hear that the conclusion of the BLP are now likely to be delayed until after the JSP has been to Examination in Public. It was also interesting to see the looks on the officer’s faces when we told that that Whitchurch Lane has not yet had a feasibility study done on it yet! It amazes me that so many plans, the JSP, JLTP4 BLP have all been drawn up and yet no-one has even looked to see if Whitchurch Lane is suitable! I am still convinced that Whitchurch Lane is a WEAK LINK and NOT a LINK ROAD, it is the WRONG ROAD. The plans for the whole of the area fall down if the basic plans for the South Bristol Ring Road have not been properly researched. We, the residents know it, when will they start listening to us?

I was also invited to a meeting of the Whitchurch Village Action Group. It was great to see that we are ensuring that what we are both doing is complimenting each other and this makes us stronger.

Then, mysteriously, traffic recording equipment started popping up everywhere. What is going on, I asked myself. Local people are asking the same thing! There are some PDF files on our website that gives details of the difficulty that I have had trying to get to the bottom of what is going on. It is SO frustrating! Good communication is the key. I have been trying my best to establish the facts to share with the group. I still don’t know who asked for the monitoring to take place or more importantly why! I will continue to try to confirm exactly what is going on. Could do without it being so difficult to establish! I could have done without this on top of everything else! Frustration!

Meanwhile, it’s back to preparing the comments for the JSP…..