Improved Access: No Brainer, surely!

It looks like a deal has already been done. The rail and river crossing option encloses the land at the top of Angel Drove. The retail developer (including Tesco) get planning permission for this, and in return pay for the bypass.

IT has recently been announced in the Ely Standard that Tesco wish to move to a larger site further up Angel Drove as part of an out-of-town retail development. Cue an outcry from those who seek to protect the town centre.

Today, the county council has put a document through my door seeking my views on improving the traffic around the station. They ask: Do I support improved access to the south of Ely? In business this is referred to as a ‘no brainer’ (ie you don’t need a brain to answer the question).

The county council takes the trouble to point out problems with the cheap options, and don’t put obstacles in the way of public support for a bypass which crosses the river as well as the railway. I accept that this is probably the best technical solution, as well as the most expensive. Funding is proposed to come from borrowing and then getting this back from developers.

It looks like a deal has already been done. The rail and river crossing option encloses the land at the top of Angel Drove. The retail developer (including Tesco) get planning permission for this, and in return pay for the bypass.

I am not expressing an opinion, merely pointing out that you can’t have your cake and eat it. You can either have an out-of-town retail park and a bypass, or no retail park and no bypass. To ask for a bypass but object to a retail park won’t work.

RODNEY ATKINSON

Downham Road

Ely