Slow Speed Ahead Lib Dem Fury over Labour hold-up on Housing & Transport

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 3rd Oct 2003

The Cambridge City Lib Dem group has reacted angrily to Labour's attempt to delay big decisions needed in local housing and transport. Anne Campbell MP and Ruth Bagnell (Leader of the city's Labour group) have called for the county's Structure Plan to be subject to a long-winded public enquiry.

Recent statements by Labour MP Anne Campbell and City Council Labour Group Leader Cllr Ruth Bagnall, show that the Labour recipe for solving Cambridge's pressing problems of transport and housing is to delay everything by getting their New Labour government to 'call in' the County Structure Plan and set up a prolonged public enquiry.

"Though the Structure Plan is not perfect, a call-in would be an unforgivable betrayal of people who live or work in Cambridge," says council leader Cllr Ian Nimmo-Smith.

"Labour's recipe for Cambridge is to hold everything up. Instead of urging their colleagues in government to give more help to solve our chronic problems of housing and transport - what do they do? Call for more delays!", says Cllr Nimmo-Smith.

"Any delay would be catastrophic to plans to provide much needed affordable housing. Any deficiencies in the transport aspects of the plan are the result of lack of central government commitment to funding major public transport infrastructure in the Cambridge area." says Cllr Nichola Harrison, executive councillor for the environment.

"It is not the structure plan but the entire New Labour government that needs to be called in," said LD Parliamentary spokesperson for Cambridge Cllr David Howarth.