CHELTENHAM MP Martin Horwood will join other Gloucestershire MPs today to press ministers to save the long-awaited upgrade of the Swindon to Kemble line upgrade. The MPs are due to meet railways minister Theresa Villiers at the Department for Transport at 10am this morning. The upgrade – which will deliver more reliable and more direct services from Cheltenham to Swindon, Reading and London – was backed by the previous government after a long cross-party campaign by Martin and other local MPs, councillors and businesses. But the scale of departmental savings required by the new chancellor George Osborne has put the scheme into jeopardy especially after a detailed feasibility study raised the expected price tag.
Martin commented before the meeting: “The Swindon to Kemble upgrade is exactly the kind of project the new coalition government should be supporting. It won’t just help business and growth in the county, it will do so in a sustainable way that will mean less journeys by car, less traffic and more people using the railway. I understand the desperate state of public finances and I know ministers can’t fund all the schemes that we wanted now but if we are to live up to our ambition to be the greenest government ever, then this is exactly the kind of project we should be supporting not cutting.”
ENDS
Martin commented before the meeting: “The Swindon to Kemble upgrade is exactly the kind of project the new coalition government should be supporting. It won’t just help business and growth in the county, it will do so in a sustainable way that will mean less journeys by car, less traffic and more people using the railway. I understand the desperate state of public finances and I know ministers can’t fund all the schemes that we wanted now but if we are to live up to our ambition to be the greenest government ever, then this is exactly the kind of project we should be supporting not cutting.”
ENDS
Martin to press for Swindon-Kemble upgrade
- Tuesday 27th of July 2010 08:56
Martin Horwood is your
Liberal Democrat
Member of Parliament for Cheltenham
working for a fairer,
greener, safer community
Member of Parliament for Cheltenham
working for a fairer,
greener, safer community