Bypass funding problems - latest media reports

The wider media is now catching hold of the 4NW funding decision.

Transport Xtra reports on the detail of the 4NW decision - that an option to delay 3 schemes was rejected in favour of rejecting the Bypass (the article is here for subscribers or you can view the page here courtesy of our cheeky free trial screengrab).

Meanwhile, the MEN are their offshoot Channel M have also been reporting. As usual, Channel M's reporters labour the 'misery' being experienced by those living next to a congested road - albeit a road with relatively light free-flowing traffic, stationary at one point because the vehicles  are at a red traffic light - but we're glad to see local Jenny Bostock talking some sense, alongside Emma from Save Swallows Wood. The same can't be said of Mike Flynn of Longdendale Siege - he and other road supporters have no arguments left, and his desire for a road and not transport solutions is more exposed than it has ever been (the video is embedded in this post - click here if you can't see it).

Ways to interact with us

In case you're the casual visitor who doesn't look down the left-hand sidebar too often, we thought we'd spend some time introducing you to the ways you can interact with us here at No Mottram Bypass. There is more to us than this blog!

Want to read our new posts without visiting the site? Then subscribe to receive an email containing our blogs whenever the site is updated - details are at the top and bottom of the sidebar. Or, if you know about and use an rss reader, subscribe to our rss feed here.

If you like to use social networking sites, there are a couple of ways to interact. We have a myspace here, and we also have a facebook page. Over at facebook, we also have a group which you can join to show support and receive mailings from time to time. 

We micro-blog now and again at Twitter, and our page is here. We plan to use this feature more in future - how and why will be revealed at the appropriate moment! (If you want stay up to date with our twitter feed but don't have or want a Twitter account, the rss feed is here)

Lastly, we have a very popular page over at YouTube (nearly 57,000 video views as I write!),  which hosts some of the videos we use on this website as well as others we have uploaded to track other campaigns. 

(There are vague plans to have an occasional dead tree/old school version of No Mottram Bypass at some point in the future. Again, more on this as the plans bear fruit) 

Incident on the Snake Pass...

Perhaps not what you were expecting, but to celebrate the re-opening of the Snake Pass, here's a little helping of the wonderful John Shuttleworth (aka Jilted John) with his song 'Incident on the the Snake Pass':

Public Inquiry cancellation - TV news item

Here we are again with Channel M news: to illustrate their news items, they love to use a traffic jam which is actually along the A57 going into Glossop at Brookfield, and in the opposite direction to the A628. They've done this before.

And they've got Mike Flynn to stand not far from his house again too. Our spies tell us there was no sign of him at the PI yesterday, as is usual. He's obviously not that outraged, or he'd be there telling the Inspector.

But the best bit is when he says "...it's like this all day, every day for 24 hours...". Yes Mike, that's because it's a main road. But it's simply not true to say the traffic is the same all the time "24 hours a day". It's at it's worst at Peak times, and significantly less during school holidays.

You can always get the other side of the story here.

Save Temperance Green!

We've become aware of a new environmental campaign in Longdendale over the weekend: Residents Against Green Erosion (RAGE) have set up a weblog in their campaign to protect Temperance Green, a small patch of green land in Broadbottom.

TMBC seem to have plans to turn it into a car park. Our posts about the progress of Trevor Mooney's car park in Dinting should alert those who believe local authority planning departments have scruples about where to build, even a tiny bit of land in the middle of a small village like Broadbottom.

What makes this one interesting are several factors. One is that many of arguments espoused by RAGE are the same as we use in the fight against the bypass. Another is that it is really a microcosm of the bypass issue: if you allow roads to grow, you end up having arguments about the tiniest bits of green land left - nothing satiates the appetite of the road monster.

But best of all is that this is taking place in Broadbottom, and that RAGE have been talking to the bypass supporting councillors Jonathan Reynolds and Sean Parker-Perry. How likely is it that politicians such as these will be against a car park? I suppose we'll find out.

We'd like to add our support to this campaign and will be reserving a space in the sidebar for a link. In the meantime, RAGE have a video about their campaign on YouTube:

Who are our David Abrahams?

We've run a whole series of posts where we've asked questions about things that just don't seem to fit right.

The national news at the moment features a whole host of - speaking frankly - shady, bent bastards who are prepared to open almost any door upon which money knocks.

But buried in the story of Labour's relationship with David Abrahams is the matter of planning permission for a retail park he wanted built in County Durham, alongside the A1. Initially, the Highways Agency had blocked the scheme on the grounds it would cause congestion (!). In October 2006, they changed tack and removed their objection. The excellent Paul Mason touched on it briefly in last night's Newsnight.

We are sure there are local similarities to this situation, some of which we've touched upon, some of which we've yet to look at. We've always smalled a rat, and eventually we will corner it and shine a light on it. You're welcome to help us.

Organ Grinder - or (Road)Munkey?

James Purnell MP is in the news again. It seems there were more fake photo ops, and a BBC Freedom of Information request has nailed his spin that he had no idea about the plans to fake the photos.

But let's read between the lines here. Here' s a quote to savour:

"A spokesman from Mr Purnell's office said it was sent to a general e-mail address used by the constituency office"

His office says he doesn't deal with those emails. So in that case, who does?

Who answers the phone and deals with all James' emails? Stalybridge & Hyde Constituents will know that it's none other than our friend the Parliamentary Political Operative to James Purnell MP - Councillor Sean Parker-Perry (aka Roadmunkey). Oh dear. So did he not tell his boss about the Hospital's plans?

Once again, Parker-Perry is proving himself to be a huge political liability for his MP, the Labour Party and the people of Longdendale. We welcome his further efforts to secure a bypass for Longdendale, because at this rate his 'Midas Touch in reverse' can only scupper any plans for it.

Meet the new Boss? ...same as the old boss

With all this talk of elections, we thought we'd muse for a minute on that bloke Dave Cameron's speech the other day (let's not forget these are the new Green Tories, and good old Dave has got a wind turbine on his roof - as did one local pipsqueak/councillor at one time). Take this sample...

So, his mother dealt with "the likes of Swampy" did she? It's easy to mock people who are (seemingly) not as strong, but it's also better to choose those who were the least effective - Direct Action stopped the Tories road building programme dead in it's tracks in the 1990s, and it will do the same with Labour's - or even the Tories if they have their jackboot on our necks again in a few weeks time. We too "fight for what we believe in and the changes we want to make" despite "the likes of you". Bring it on Dave...

And as an antidote to all that guff, here's a rejoinder to this Toff's mocking tones from good old Dan Hooper himself...

'Fake Purnell' on the loose in Tameside

The media are all over the Stalybridge & Hyde MP James Purnell. It seems that the MP has been 'photoshopped' into a photo-opportunity at Tameside Hospital for this week's press that he didn't actually attend (dutifully carried by the Glossop Chronicle/Tameside Reporter).

And as we've been noting over the past few months, Purnell's staff love to mess with the internet. We chronicled how a member of Purnell's staff, Longdendale Councillor Sean Parker-Perry, had been behind the now dormant 'roadmunkey' weblog and was extremely active in altering wikipedia articles about his boss, as well as other articles like the Longdendale Bypass (some bright spark has begun to chronicle these edits here).

We wonder has this will all turn out for Purnell and his minions? We'll add more when time allows...

**10.30 p.m. update - the story's set to run, with Purnell employing the 'broken record' approach with Gordon Burns on tonight's North West Tonight (video below) - very reminiscent of Michael Howard vs Jeremy Paxman! Contradictions abound and Purnell is on the ropes. But will the media latch on to the equally dodgy meddlings of his underlings?

Cutting off your nose to spite your face

A new report released yesterday revealed that 71% of workers in the UK travel by car. What's more, the report's authors urged both the government & employers to encourage people to use their cars less.

The report was compiled using data from DEFRA and the DfT and revealed that 1 in 10 workers spend more than 2 hours in their cars to travel an average commute of 8.7 miles (that's a speed of less than 5 miles per hour - it's almost quicker to walk).

What's more, the North West of England was found to be the most hazardous region to travel in terms of collision rates, travel times and levels of CO2.

The report's authors? Those well known tree-huggers the RAC.

It comes to something when an organisation that exists to capitalise from the motor industry (and not 'motorists' who are fictional constituency) is calling for alternatives.

Yesterday's North West Tonight devoted a fair slice of their programme to this report, and contrasted it with the daily experience of rail commuters in the region who are precariously packed like sardines into trains each morning and evening (see below). This truly ridiculous state of affairs could indicate that either demand for the railways is growing fast, or that the network is seriously underfunded and neglected - or both.

And all of this relates perfectly to the Longdendale Bypass. If the conundrums and contradictions that capitalism produces never cease to amaze you, then you'll love the fact that the National Grid want to use the Woodhead Tunnels to store cables, a plan which will jeopardise the use of the tunnels for the purpose for which they were built - train travel. That's the same National Grid that have objected to the bypass (you can their objections here and here) on the grounds that it will harm their assets and infrastructure. The cynical bastards want to have their cake and eat it.

But if you want even more cynical bastards you can take your pick. As we've reported before, High Peak Borough Council are against the plans for Woodhead Tunnel, but for the bypass. Tom Levitt is silent, but this lick-spittle is only reflecting the silence of his masters - Ruth 'Cilice' Kelly has remained silent about the issue. And you would have thought that Roy Oldham would have been up in arms about it - he was energised enough in 1980 about the closure of the Woodhead Line to appear at the Public Inquiry to protest.

The conspiracy of silence over this potential act of desecration only fools those who look to these people for leadership. We are facing a future where the car is clearly going nowhere, both metaphorically and literally in years to come. We need another way, and those campaigning for roads have misread the signs leading only to oblivion.

Pull the other one...

It won't have escaped anyone's notice, but last week the Public Inquiry was adjourned unexpectedly for the second time. The Inquiry will briefly reconvene on November 6th, giving the Highways Agency time to re-work some of their evidence, and then again on December 18th to deal with the rest of it. The Objectors will now have to wait until 2008 to present their evidence again.

At this stage, it would seem to naive to believe anything other than that this is a tactical charade by the Highways Agency. By the time their case is over, they will have had nearly 2 years to formulate their case to bring before the public - so one questions if that is really the problem. Unlike the State, the Objectors do not have bottomless pockets to fund their part in this charade, and individual objectors can get fed up with the constant delays. The Highways Agency want to turn everyone off with their slow, grinding misery of an approach.

And, of course, the Inspector lets them carry on with it. At the Inquiry, he has been largely subservient to their whims. Faced with complaints, he can only offer Objectors a bit more time to change their evidence, and makes vague references that Objectors can point out how they have been disadvantaged by the actions of the HA, and that he will take a view when writing his report. This is cold comfort.

In a Court of Law, the actions of the Highways Agency may well by now have been regarded as 'abuse of process', and their case may have been dismissed. But not here.

And it seems that both sides are in agreement that this thing needs to be wrapped up. Channel M dutifully reported on matters once more (see above), and that's the impression one gets from their report. But it does have some anomalies.

In it, Mike Flynn of the Longdendale Siege Comittee puts in an appearance again. Standing but a stroll away from his house on Wedneshough Green in Hollingworth, he laments the time it is all taking. Notice how he's nowhere near the Inquiry. As we've pointed out before, he's prepared to mouth platitudes for Television and his best mates at the Reporter Group Newspapers, but he hasn't the bottle to stand up at the Inquiry and tell us all why he wants this road. What a Weasel...

The second problem is that the video shows Brookfield near Hadfield when talking about 'diverting traffic away from the villages of Mottram, Tintwistle and Hollingworth'. What's more, it's traffic heading into Glossop, and away from the area. Pull the other one, it's got bells on...

Glossop Critical Mass - on video

As promised, video-pixies have finished their work on the video of the first Glossop Critical Mass, and the world premiere is here!

One thing to note - this week's Glossop Chronicle has tried to play down the Critical Mass by saying there were 'less than a dozen' present. Not so, there were 14 taking part (including one very small non-cycling passenger) which is in our opinion is a pretty damn good start, garnering a lot of attention. We're sure there will be far more next time.

Carillion to start work on the bypass in a jiffy...

Why Swallow's Wood is so important

The nature walk organised by Save Swallow's Wood took place today on a day of changeable weather. 12 people attended, and the weather was clement enough to hold the picnic afterwards.

The group split into 2, one group led by local expert Pat Ellison, the other by ecologist Phil Martin. We filmed the highlights of Phil's tour of the Nature Reserve & wood, and plan to edit them into a series of short videos for upload to our channel on YouTube.

In this first video, Phil explains why Swallow's Wood is so important and must be protected from the bypass that threatens it.

BBC on the bandwagon

The story which we broke 11 days ago has now reached the monolith that is the BBC, featuring on North West Tonight this evening. It's not dissimilar to the Channel M feature, and the wind blew a copy of it into our hands...

On the Advertiser website, the comments still roll in, overwhelmingly negative, but no-one from the media has still acknowledged where the story came from.

Now the papers get their stories from us...

After our post last week about the Mottram-in-Longdendale plaque, it seems the MEN have been visiting us and decided to poach the story (they haven't published the comment we left, unsurprisingly). Channel M (they're joined at the hip) have now jumped in, so we've grabbed it for YouTube and now the story is back home again.

The Advertiser article has a few good nuggets. Firstly, it cost £3000. Second is Oldham, quoted in all his arrogant, obnoxious glory:

"I’ve lived there for 50 years, represented the ward for 40 years and was born in Mottram.

It’s like when a carpenter works in a church and carves a little church mouse on the bottom for an emblem. I don’t see why anyone should make a problem but there are sad people in all walks of life.”

So did Roy make it himself then? No, of course not, the implication is that he has MADE LONGDENDALE. I'm running out of words to express how vile this individual is ... and he's just branded most people in the area 'sad'.

And of course, the media do their worst by turning into a game of political ping-pong and produce a Tory clad in a ridiculous chuckle brother style peroxide fright-wig.

If the MEN want to peruse our blog for other stories to publish, they're welcome. But will they have the bottle to raise the real issues? Or is this story just a bit like a game of mutual 'Chinese Burns' between bum-chums?

'Public Inquiry: Day 1' Channel M news report

Chris Woodward? Since when was he a 'talking head' - although he does try to get himself into the Glossop Chronicle at every opportunity, now he's for the bypass. Ever the opportunist.

Pre-Inquiry Meeting: TV news item

Watch out Mowlem 'road men' - we've got Edward & Tubbs!

I've got the treacle if you've got the bongos!

(Cheers to the Witch for finding this)