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MP to put pressure on Government for road improvements
BENYON PUSHING FOR A34 CHANGES URGENT changes are needed to the A34 to improve safety in the wake of more and more vehicles using the road on a daily basis. That is the view of Newbury MP Richard Benyon, who was speaking at the second meeting of the A34 Action Group, held at Chilton Village Hall in Oxfordshire on Monday night. The aim of the group is to put pressure on transport chiefs and push for safety changes to the road, in the wake of the horrific eight-vehicle crash near the East Ilsley junction in August in which a mother and three children were killed. And at the meeting, Mr Benyon said he and Oxfordshire MPs Nicola Blackwood and Ed Vaizey are looking to secure a debate in parliament about the A34, in the hope of securing a commitment from Government to make safety changes. He said: “What is happening now is way beyond the expectations of those who designed and built that road when they did. “In West Berkshire and Oxfordshire, a lot of new homes are about to be built, and Southampton container port is to be increased by a third and a lot of those goods going to and from Southampton are using that road.” He continued: “In parliament, Ed and I are trying to bid to speak to the
By Adam Flinn
speaker for a slot to have a debate on this, which means the roads minister (John Hayes) has to come and respond and that in itself will raise the issue up his agenda. “We want to make sure we are
focused on the achievable, and when we get a tragedy like we had earlier in the summer, everybody’s affected by that.” Other speakers from Thames Valley Police and the Roads Haulage Association talked about how safety could be improved through infra-
structure and by improving driving standards. Some of these ideas included speed cameras on certain parts of the road, and building a crawler lane for slower moving vehicles such as lorries and farm traffic. VË Í ÖjÄË Ë¬?~jËÏ
• Emergency services attend the eight-vehicle crash in August that killed a woman and three children near East Ilsley, and (right) Richard Benyon