Published at 11:09, Thursday, 03 May 2012

SIR – Whatever the rights and wrongs of most of the proposals in the “Economic Blueprint” described by the Energy Coast partnership, one thing is certain – the proposed £40 million Whitehaven bypass would be the final nail in the coffin for economic life in the town.

ROAD AHEAD? Traffic on the Distington-Parton bypass after it opened in 2008. Now a new Whitehaven bypass is mooted

Described as the “Eastern By-Pass” on the front page of the second section of The News, April 26 (where else would it go?), the report rightly states that it would be “key in connecting the port of Workington to the main settlements and Sellafield”. What it doesn’t state, of course, is the obvious – that this would be achieved by keeping traffic away from Whitehaven. What our local council has consistently refused to recognise is that it is not possible to persuade people, ie customers of the town’s businesses, out of their cars by making parking difficult or expensive, they just go somewhere more accommodating – in their cars. A shiny new bypass will simply make that even easier and boost the trade of Workington and all points north and east. A town which is currently on life-support, at least in part as a result of the incompetence of the borough council, will spiral downwards ever more rapidly. Forget “Park & Ride” as well, Whitehaven is not, and never will be, York, Durham or Chester.

Anyone who seriously doubts the effect of such a bypass on the businesses of a town needs only look at the number of shops now trading in the main street of Egremont and compare it with the situation around 20 years ago – before the bypass there opened. That too is a road which has certainly improved access to Sellafield, but at what cost to the town?

John GRAHAM

Lowrey Close, Beckermet

Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk