City councillor welcomes postponement of A14 inquiry (Cambridge Liberal Democrats)

Cambridge Liberal Democrats <camlibdems@gmail.com>

City councillor welcomes postponement of A14 inquiry

June 10, 2010 2:44 PM

Clare Blair

Leading Cambridge City Councillor, Clare Blair, has welcomed the news that the A14 public inquiry has been put on hold while the government decides whether it can afford the project.

The news is a victory for Cambridge City Council which called for the inquiry to be postponed, claiming it made no sense to spend taxpayers' money on going ahead with it until the government had costed the scheme.

Cllr Blair, Executive Councillor for Climate Change and Growth said: "This is a victory for common sense. It would have been ludicrous to go ahead with this inquiry while the funding situation is so uncertain.

"The city council's position continues to be that there are much cheaper and environmentally better ways of improving the A14."

The news came in a statement from Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond.

He said: "Only once the Government's spending review has been concluded will the Department for Transport be in a position to identify those major investments that can be supported."