The A12 is a pretty dire stretch of road, I admit. It runs north-easterly from the City for 121 miles to the entertainment hotspot of Great Yarmouth. Total road closures are fairly common and there are certain times when you would not consider travelling on it, such as during the week and also at weekends. Leader of Essex County Council, Paul White, aka Lord Hanningfield yesterday announced a 'Public Inquiry' into what can be done. He had also secured the administration services of Sir David Rowlands, Chelmsford resident and previously permanent secretary at the Department of Transport. Lord H. appeared on BBC East disgruntled and portly in his reacto-lite rapide bi-focals and berated the Govenment for not carrying out the Inquiry. So, I then realised it isn't a public inquiry at all. Rather the pompous project of a self-important Councillor funded entirely by the council taxpayers of Essex. It hasn't even been properly costed, he estimated the bill to be "a few thousand". It's as well to be precise about public money, eh?
Lord H. sits in the Lords and just happens to be Shadow Minister for Transport - he has no doubt been lobbying Ruth Kelly for a Public Inquiry. But she was unsurprisingly lacking in sympathy for the cause of an uber-Tory. So undeterred his Lordship has carried on regardless. Sir David Rowlands, as chair, lends it the air of an authentic, independent inquiry but Sir D then blew it when he told the Beeb,
“When I was at the Department for Transport, I very carefully did not allow any personal interest to dictate what I or the department did,” he said. “Now I'm retired." So much for the even-handed approach. The conclusions of the report could easily be written now and would be along the lines of " A12 is a disaster...we've done our best...every other region gets more than us...bloody Labour Government".
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