AADHIKARONLINE quoting the MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS deriding the London CRASSrail as a contrast to the pro-CRASSrail hole plot-backing, Ken lyingstill Livingstone promoting Guardian. The MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS is owned by the same group as the lying Guardian:
MPs angry over London 'bias' - News - Manchester Evening News
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1021275_mps_angry_over_london_bias
Manchester Evening News
MPs angry over London 'bias'
UNDER FIRE: Ruth Kelly
MPs angry over London 'bias'
Exclusive David Ottewell
24/10/2007
THE government has been accused of pro-London bias after agreeing to hand over billions for transport
projects in the capital.
Greater Manchester MPs are set for an angry showdown with transport secretary Ruth Kelly today after Gordon Brown agreed to provide £5.2bn towards the cost of a cross-London rail service.
Ms Kelly, MP for Bolton West, will be grilled by the Commons select committee on transport, which includes Manchester Blackley MP Graham Stringer and Manchester Withington MP John Leech.
Her appearance follows a number of controversial decisions in which London-based projects have been
given the go-ahead - while the north has been left waiting for money.
The prime minister announced earlier this month that the Treasury would contribute one third of the £16bn
cost of the London Crossrail project.
The announcement came just a day after the Department for Transport promised a feasibility study into a major increase of capacity at Manchester's Piccadilly station. Network Rail has been asked to pursue the matter as a priority - but there has been no promise of extra cash.
No justification Transport minister Jim Fitzpatrick has also poured cold water on a £30bn high-speed rail link from London to Manchester, telling the Commons there was `presently no justification... for such expenditure'.
Meanwhile, the government has also given the green light to a £3.5bn upgrade of London's Thameslink train network. Greater Manchester council is bidding for £3bn from the Transport Innovation Fund to complete the `Big Bang' Metrolink extension and pay for extra rail and bus services and more Metrolink improvements.
The bid includes a pledge to introduce a peak-hour congestion charge of up to £5 a day.
The government had agreed to a funding package of £520m for the original smaller Metrolink plan but
withdrew the offer after costs spiralled.
The money was put back on the table only after a massive campaign, led by the M.E.N.
The cost of just the original plan is now estimated at more than £1bn - and the government says the
Transport Innovation Fund is now the only viable source of funding.
Mr Stringer said last night: "When you put the £16bn for Crossrail, £3.5bn for Thameslink and the £6bn
benefits of the Olympics to London against the comparatively trivial amount for Metrolink, you see that the government has got its regional policy wrong."
Mr Leech said: "There is a big London bias as far as I am concerned.
"You only have to look at the figures to prove it. Manchester and the rest of the country are getting
nothing."
A DfT spokeswoman said: “Transport funding for the north west has more than doubled since the start
ofthis decade.
“DfT has provided substantial funding forpublic transport improvements recently – including £8.6bn for modernising the West Coast Mainline and conditional approval for a£520m extension of the Metrolink.”
If buses do belch out black smoke,then it's hardly impossible to fix it.Also i'm not sure about tax payers
subsidising public transport,at present it seems that commuters/passengers are featherbedding
shareholders.Public transport costs have increased well above the rate of inflation since privatisation.
Mandy Davies
The anti-north bias is a long running saga,and seems to cross political boundaries.There is though no
doubt that the north would benefit from improved,and subsidised public transport.Ken Livingstone, for all
his faults, has shown bottle, in setting up a workable scheme in London.But any subsidies from central
Govt, should be equally applied, to other areas of the country too.As for buses belching out evil fumes,i'm
sure that is not permanent and inevitable and can be improved.It seems though that some people aren't
prepared to put the environment before the desires of motorists.Though some need their cars ie for work,
many journeys are unnesessary,and motorist groups seem unable to offer any environmentally sound
alternatives to placing public transport at the centre of transport planning.In fact many sensible motorists
are fed up with gridlock,and realise that there must be a limit to the growth in car use.A recent audit from
the UN, showed that few countries, are doing anywhere near enough, to combat the great threats to
human and animal existence..overconsumption,deforestation,worldwide population explosion,global
inequality leading to over farming of land,decline in water quality etc etc. Integrated transport systems are
vital if we are going to avoid "the point of no return",which the report says is imminent.It's a worrying scenario,even without climate change. Yes America is the greatest polluter/consumer,and India and China are the fastest growing polluters..but there are people in these countries fighting to control their impact on the world.
The average Brit is still consuming several times what we should,in terms of sustainability. As for
fears about environmental degradation being merely a UN concocted conspiracy to get tax payers to hand
over more money,that must be one of the most laughable and dangerous theories i've ever heard.
People have been warning about these problems for decades (read James Lovelock if you don't beleive me).It is also true that many primates are on the verge of extinction..if this is a conspiracy? then i'm amazed that the organisers got the primates to go along with it too.Please don't expect me to beleive that oil consortiums don't have a desire to pull the wool over our eyes either,their message is carry on polluting don't worry.
In comparison to their power and size the green lobby is microscopic.
BluePolarBear, ex of Stockport
26/10/2007 at 22:33
Saturday, November 10, 2007
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