| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Time to reconsider the west london tram scheme | |
| Posted by: | Andy Jones | |
| Date/Time: | 07/08/10 09:53:00 |
| 'Sadly, the tram will never happen because nothing ever gets started unless it's in the short-term interest of those who drive 4x4s.' This comment is typical of the authoritarianism that used to characterise the Labour party in Ealing. They would pose as being democratic but when the electorate didn't go along with the grandiose schemes they would denigrate them as reactionary. Despite a consultation process that bent every rule to deliver a positive result, 80% of people in my area were against the tram. If Labour had taken to trouble to speak to them at the time they would have found out that it was not concern about road space for their 4x4s that caused local people to oppose the scheme but the prospect of dramatically increased traffic levels on local residential streets and fewer stops on the Uxbridge Road compared with the 207. Insulting the electorate by dismissing them as petrolheads led to Labour getting a spanking in the 2006 election. This lesson seems to have been learnt by the current administration but dinosaurs apparently remain in the party. |