York transport chief claims traffic survey was ‘flawed’ (From York Press)
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York transport chief Steve Galloway claims traffic survey was ‘flawed’
8:56am Thursday 22nd July 2010 in News
YORK’S transport chief has claimed a survey of the city’s traffic network which ruled out congestion charging did not give residents enough choice.
A public consultation exercise on tackling gridlock has decided imposing a drivers’ tax should not happen and ways of making walking, cycling and public transport more attractive should be looked at instead.
A report presented to City of York Council’s executive this week, stated providing better bus services and looking at creating a central freight depot received widespread public support.
But Coun Steve Galloway, the authority’s executive member for city strategy, said the survey was “flawed” because it offered “limited” options, claiming residents only had one choice if they did not support road-charging measures.
He also said the findings placed insufficient importance on upgrading the outer ring road and that this must remain a priority under the council’s Local Transport Plan (LTP).
“If the public had been allowed to say they did not favour any of the options, we would have had an indication of whether they preferred something else,” he said.
“The recommended option does not allow for any improvements to the highway network or include proposals to support York’s northern by-pass, so we cannot say the findings should become a cornerstone of the Local Transport Plan.
“I don’t believe there is any chance this city is going to get hundreds of millions of pounds in Government funding for transport, so the emphasis must be on getting the best value for each pound invested.
“The report is a valuable and interesting contribution to the LTP, but I don’t believe residents’ real priorities have been correctly identified.”
Scrutiny committee chairman Coun Dave Merrett said the recommended option reflected “the most important issues residents identified with”.
He said: “We should continue to examine innovative and creative ways of delivering it, such as looking for additional funding sources.
“We felt the special nature of York meant there would be a good case to put to the Government for it to receive special consideration in terms of funding. If we are only partially successful, we must look at how we prioritise what we take forward.”
Comments(15)
meme
says...
9:33am Thu 22 Jul 10
What money is available should be considered very carefully and used to maximum effect by squeezing every last penny of value from it and not wasting it on schemes that were overpriced and generally not welcomed or successful ie Clifton green or Blossom St
Garrowby Turnoff
says...
9:44am Thu 22 Jul 10
B.Dole
says...
11:36am Thu 22 Jul 10
Abstemious
says...
11:49am Thu 22 Jul 10
A survey taken under Galloway's supervision doesn't give him the response he wants so it's "flawed".
What's really sad is that, after all these years of Big Steve proving how useless he is, people still listen to him.
HeidTheBa'
says...
12:08pm Thu 22 Jul 10
Von_Dutch
says...
1:40pm Thu 22 Jul 10
Abstemious wrote:Hate to point it out, but this survey wasn't done under Big Steve's direction. It was the opposing Political Groups who commissioned it (i.e. Cllr Merrett = Labour) And although i disagree with Cllr G on a lot of things concerning York, he's always said that he doesn't want congestion charging.
You couldn't make this up. A survey taken under Galloway's supervision doesn't give him the response he wants so it's "flawed". What's really sad is that, after all these years of Big Steve proving how useless he is, people still listen to him.
B.Dole
says...
2:02pm Thu 22 Jul 10
AngryandFrustrated
says...
2:09pm Thu 22 Jul 10
HeidTheBa' wrote:Excellent posting - couldn't agree more. It does have a whiff of the Irish about it and their initial refusal to accept whichever European Treaty they were voting on.
Oh yeah - wonderful. The turkeys refused to vote for Christmas so, by definition, the survey must have been flawed!! They will no doubt now adopt the EU gambit of simply repeating the survey until people become sufficiently p|ssed off with it and give the result that they want. Then they can introduce their **** congestion charging and turn the centre of York into a desolate waste-land. Why is it that local government seems to attract nothing but power-crazed, brain-dead, control freak morons?
PKH
says...
3:44pm Thu 22 Jul 10
Cheaper fares and better service would make public transport more attractive, Firest have made it less attractive.
pedalling paul
says...
9:45pm Thu 22 Jul 10
An even smaller alternative spend, with useful benefits would be to redress the severance effect of the ORR upon non-motorised travellers who need to cross it. More cycle and pedestrian underpasses or bridges would create alternative choices to the car for many local journeys.
TooRelaxed
says...
11:13pm Thu 22 Jul 10
What Mr G is saying if you actually read the article is exactly what everyone was saying when the survey came out:
That there weren't enough options for the people who didn't want a charge and that it was weighted towards a charge.
Hey what's the point of reading a story when you can just knee-jerk the axe you like to grind, eh?
LibDem
says...
7:41am Fri 23 Jul 10
If central government institute a national road pricing system then so be it. There is some logic in paying more to drive at the busiest times of the day. Most residents would expect any revenue gained to be hypothecated to be spent on improvements to the transport network.
Ironically, the more successful a congestion charge is, in deterring cars from entering the City, the lower the income. Hence, progressively, less becomes available to invest in alternative public transport options.
The headline to the article could be misleading for some.
There will be no second referendum on charging. There will be a final consultation with residents in the late autumn on the Councils long term transport policy.
The decision of the Council’s Executive means that improvements to the northern by pass will remain in the plan as will more localised refinements to the highways network which are aimed at reducing accidents and easing congestion pressure points.
piaggio
says...
6:48pm Fri 23 Jul 10
well . stop messing about with the roads
Irate from Strensall
says...
9:01pm Fri 23 Jul 10
leont says...
9:31am Thu 22 Jul 10
As for enlarging the ring road: Surely everyone knows by now that this doesn't reduce congestion, just causes more elsewhere? There's really no excuse for a council 'transport chief' to parade his ignorance of transport issues like this.