Manufacturers are warning that major improvements to key roads in the South West – including the A303 – are vital if the region is to haul itself out of recession and return to business growth.
A new survey says that our over-stretched transport infrastructure is a major hurdle to recovery. The research is published by manufacturers' organisation EEF, whose members are calling for a radical rethink of the UK's approach to transport infrastructure, including increased investment and the creation of an independent commission dedicated to getting the best from the national network.
The EEF says the strategy must include investment in the A303, the second artery from London to the West, which is notorious as one of the nation's most congested major routes. Its report recognises that the single carriageway "pinch points" in Wiltshire and Somerset cause huge frustration to businesses, holidaymakers and locals alike.
The EEF survey comes ahead of the publication of the Government's transport strategy and spending review this summer. Ministers have asked councils to state their road priorities before Whitehall decides its strategy. As a result, councils across the region have joined the county and South West regional chambers of commerce, MPs, Local Enterprise Partnerships and local residents in campaigning for an upgrade.
Phil Brownsord, regional director of EEF, said: "You are playing with fire in the South West. Your production lines are suffering because you can't get the parts in time or because you are being charged more for them because they are having to be driven so much further. You either have to head back to the M5 or fight your way through tourist and work traffic on the A303.
"Political prevarication and policy reversals have left Britain in the slow lane in developing its infrastructure for decades. The forthcoming transport strategy is an opportunity to address this.
"In particular, the road network is the backbone of the economy, but it has been neglected.
"We are now feeling the ill effects, with the majority of firms reporting that the state of the nation's roads is significantly increasing their operating costs. Investment should be targeted at shovel-ready maintenance projects and bringing forward upgrades to heavily congested arteries."
Rupert Cox, chief executive of Somerset Chamber of Commerce, said: "We did some work back in January and February on the back of the flooding as to how people were affected by the transport infrastructure and what came out was that we need to improve the infrastructure wholesale, but from a road perspective the A303-A358, not only the A303.
"We are very keen that George Osborne looks at the second artery into the South West as a major overall economic driver, not just for the tourism sector."
Sir Andrew Motion, former Poet Laureate and president of the Council for the Protection of Rural England, has said that widening of the A303 and A30 through the the Blackdown Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the Somerset-Devon border would blight precious landscape and be a national disgrace. An alternative would be to widen the A303 in Wiltshire and from Sparkford to Ilchester in Somerset, then route traffic from the A303 to the M5 at Taunton via the A358 which would also need to be dualled. Mr Cox said he was "relaxed" about which option is approved.A303 DUAL IT! CAMPAIGN - INTERACTIVE MAP
Our interactive map shows details of crashes dealt with by emergency services on the Somerset stretch of the A303 between 2006 and 2011. Data is from the Department of Transport.
Find your way around our interactive map using the navigation controls (top left of the map) or your mouse to scroll, or zoom in or out.
Click on the individual pins for details of each crash including date, time, conditions, number of vehicles involved and severity of injuries.
Red pins mark fatal collisions, yellow pins show collisions involving serious injury and blue pins show collisions with slight injury.PRINT OUT OR DOWNLOAD YOUR A303 DUAL IT! PETITION
Click here to open our A303 Dual It! petition form. You can then save it to your computer, or print it out. Alternatively, fill in our online form below.
