Thoughts from the Penzance doorstep roads and transport

Previously I have written about some of the concerns people have had when I have spoken to them on the doorstep. I wrote about the need for two way communication between the elected and the public here about rubbish on the streets and bin collections and parking on residential streets. Today I'm writing about roads, about making traffic flow better and the need for a coherent transport strategy. I have lots of other things to write about and lots of things I've heard in Penzance East, on the doorstep, by talking to my neighbours and on the school run over the last few years. If I find time I will write about them all.

A major issue facing Penzance in the future is the Sainsbury's supermarket coming to town. For clarity I think we should be supporting and focusing on the town centre and we do not need yet another supermarket. Unfortunately this decision has been made, this week the old heliport building will be demolished and soon enough more shoppers will be tempted out of town. With the supermarket, we will have a new roundabout on the A30, other candidates in Penzance East are promising to stop this and they are right to do so. If elected I certainly will try my hardest but I make no promises, the changes that come with another supermarket are a freight train that is already travelling at some speed. Decisions and agreements have been made between Sainsbury's and Cornwall Council. A sad fact that concerns of residents and town councilors here were not listened to by Cornwall Council, again we need harder working councilors that will investigate and question what is going on in Truro.

Outside of the detrimental effect on the town and our shops, the new road changes will make getting to Penzance and leaving much harder. The logic of putting another roundabout on a trunk road is beyond me. Jelbert Way was the obvious choice using the existing roundabouts. People are concerned about this. I had a long conversation with a man on Lower Peverell road about roads in and around Penzance. He told me that as a lorry driver for many years, it was a cause of great frustration that getting around has become slower and slower as time goes on. He had a great suggestion, that when Wharfside shopping centre was built why was there a traffic light crossing installed and not a tunnel or a bridge to let traffic flow better and increase passenger safety. For me this goes to show the benefit of listening to people and having proper consultations, councilors and officials don't have all the answers, I'm not saying for a minute that I do either. His concern and and he definitely has a point was that traffic is getting worse around Penzance and there seems to be little done about it. Not only does this annoy residents, businesses and drivers it also puts off tourists. Why spend ages in traffic jams and queues in Penzance and not bypass us entirely and continue on to Land's End?

The cause of congestion in Cornwall is the volume of traffic plain and simple. Despite successive Westminster governments placing the emphasis on painting new lines and widening exits on roundabouts as a remedy, it's not working (not popular with the people I have spoken too on the doorstep). Congestion is due to a number of factors including poor public transport and a population that is growing much faster than infrastructure improvements. We still largely drive on roads that

were built and designed a long time before I was born, they probably worked really well then to be fair. But in the 30 odd years since, traffic has increased. Then there's the trainlines they too haven't seen much in the way of improvements in my lifetime. By the state of some of the rolling stock itself that too is probably older than me. There needs to be a joined up approach to transport and the problem of congestion, we need to see improvements in public transport and in our roads. We now live in the 21st century but yet we have the infrastructure that struggled in the last century.

Cornwall Council and bodies like the LEP need to act like a strategic body. This government in London and the ones before it seem to care little about transport in Cornwall. We need a council that not just looks to the long term in terms of housing numbers but also has the wisdom and foresight to consider how the present population travels around and how this effects plans for a rapid increase in house building. There needs to be a focus on how we can get investment into our roads and into our trains and buses as well.