A47 concerns '˜are ignored' say residents

Cllr Barry Britain has hit out at Peterborough city, Cambridgeshire county and Fenland district councillors for not listening to the people for whom the A47 is a daily nightmare.

“It’s all well and good sitting up there in ivory towers, but we have the A47 running right through our lives day and night, and it’s about time parish councillors who deal with the fall out from these accident blackspots are listened to in order to get something done,” he said.

“In 1959, as a young man I used to cycle along the A47 everyday and you hardly saw another vehicle. Now, since the new bridge was built here and the road was significantly widened, it has become like a single-track motorway with giant lorries, vans and cars thundering past at high speed.

“I know things have to change, and we’re not living in the past – we appreciate that Highways England are working on plans to improve the route across Cambridgeshire, but nobody is talking to us about how these events occur and what can be done in future to prevent them, and we live closest to the road, so we ought to know.”

Following their parish council meeting last week, Cllr Britain and his fellow councillors wrote a letter in “the strongest possible terms” to the leader of Fenland District Council, Cllr Chris Seaton, outlining their concerns and the lack of communication between the parishes and district, city and county councils.

“People are being injured and dying in accidents on our doorsteps almost every week now, and we feel that we are being ignored. Something has to be done about the A47, and it has to be done now,” it said.