Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Councillor defends £30m ring road plans
THE leader of South Gloucestershire Council has defended £30 million plans to widen Bristol ring road and create what opponents have labelled as five “monstrous megaroundabouts”.
Cllr Toby Savage said he wanted to put the record straight amid criticism that the money would be better spent on other services, improving the environment or on public transport and active travel.
He told a West of England Combined Authority (Weca) committee meeting that the money was from the Government and that it would come to the region only if a business case for the A4174 improvements was accepted by the Department for Transport (DfT).
The plans are currently out to public consultation but have come under fire from Greens and even the new West of England metro mayor, Labour’s Dan Norris, who said there was a “strong possibility that just widening roads simply causes increased journeys by car and does not alleviate congestion”.
The ring road upgrades, unveiled in May, involve extra lanes, “throughabouts”, also called “hamburger roundabouts”, and more traffic lights – but no bus lanes – at five roundabouts from Lyde Green to Kingsfield.
People can have their say on the proposals until August 16, after which the council could make amendments before submitting them to Whitehall for approval.
Conservative Cllr Savage told the meeting at Kingswood civic centre: “We are doing the consultation to understand how it can benefit as many transport users in getting around the area in their preferred way as much as possible.
“We will carefully consider those consultation responses to see what is ultimately the scheme that goes forward.
“I want to clarify a comment in the written public submissions we have received that this is basically somehow money we could spend on something else.
“I want to be very clear that it is the DfT that has invited us as the highways authority to bid for funds that support improvements through the major routes network. The debate isn’t about whether it’s £30 million we should be spending on something else; the debate is whether this £30 million will come into the West of England area.
“The idea that this can just be moved around and spent as we see fit as a combined authority is an erroneous statement.”
If the DfT approves the project, work is expected to begin next year in phases and take three years to complete.
A CHARD man has been jailed for an unprovoked attack in which he smashed a jam jar over his victim’s head.
Alistair Rutter, 33, assaulted the man after walking uninvited into his home in Crewkerne on June 18 at about 5pm. He was angry about some text messages he had seen and started to pummel him with blows to the head before picking up the jar and crashing it down on his skull.
The victim was left with a six inch cut to his head and was so scared of Rutter that he moved away from the area.
Rutter was found guilty of wounding at a trial at Taunton Crown Court. The offence was one of a series committed by the defendant over the course of a few months in 2020. These included a burglary at a village shop and dangerous driving involving a police chase.
He was jailed for four years and four months.
Judge Paul Cook told the defendant: “You walked through the door and punched him about 20 times. You picked up a jam jar and smashed it across the top of his head.”
Rutter was arrested and released on bail but on November 7 was in trouble again when he led police on a high-speed pursuit in Ilminster.
The defendant, of Holyrood Street, admitted dangerous driving. He also pleaded guilty to a burglary of a village shop on March 19 last year.
Rutter smashed his way into the not-for-profit shop and stole £2,600 worth of cigarettes. He also caused more than £1,000 worth of damage.
Judge Cook said the assault had been serious and sustained and the dangerous driving committed while on bail. Rutter was disqualified from driving for 30 months.