The A303 is quite a legend amongst roads. It must be one of the few British roads that has its own song (which includes the words of the title of this post) and had a television programme devoted to its history.
But it has also been a recurring feature in the parliamentary career of David Heath MP.
When the Prime Minister addressed the CBI annual conference yesterday, he made reference to the A303 when talking about a need to ‘improve some of the most important arteries in our country’. Responding, David Heath said:
It looks very much as though the calls we have made over many years are finally being listened to. I am now very optimistic that the work on the stretch between Sparkford and Ilchester that should have been built back in 1997 will now finally happen, and about time too. From a personal point of view, it means that I can stop banging on about the A303 in the House of Commons and leave parliament next year having achieved a major objective on behalf of local people.
I think this calls for a celebratory blast of Kula Shaker:
Photo by κύριαsity
* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
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3 Comments
My parents lived in Somerset once they had retired in the 1970s. So I spent a large part of the next three decades trundling up and down the A303.
During those thirty years there were some “improvements”. For example there is the fast section that loops round Zeals. It is great for reducing the journey time and if you are lucky enough to have the road to yourself (which is still possible if you travel at an unpopular time of the day) it is a joy sweeping round at the maximum legal speed. But I still rather miss the little cafe in the village that was a natural place to stop and the antique shop where I looked but never bought anything but plenty of others did on their way through. I am not even sure if these two small independent businesses still exist it is so long since I made the effort to go through Zeals. The residents of the village were no doubt delighted when the traffic no longer thundered within four feet of their front doors. But there is a balance between removing traffic and losing livelihoods; not everybody is a winner.
Over the years the journey time between my home and my parents was reduced markedly, especially as I was often able to chose to drive when the roads were not full.
The very first time I made this journey to go and see uncles and aunts in the early 1960s with my dad driving his ‘sit-up-and-beg’ Ford Popular we actually had to drive through Andover and Wincanton and the journey of 135 miles took all day.
Nowadays anything much over a couple of hours and I feel I have been unnecessarily delayed.
There are still sections where improvements could be made. The tunnel at Stonehenge for example, which has been talked about since I was a child but will probably not be built during my lifetime. The bizarre sight of what is enough traffic to swell a three lane Motorway being squeezed into a single lane to go past the ancient monument ought to be tourist attraction in its own right.
Bus loads of Japanese visitors must look on in amazement as the road leading up to Stonehenge becomes a queue, hardly moving at all, as twenty-first century traffic struggles to negotiate a road not much wider than the track that would have been there in the Iron Age.
The A303, one minute it is like a Motorway the next minute you are going up the hill just after Sparkford and you are in an “A” road that looks more like a country lane.
People who are unfamiliar with the road might like to imagine what it would be like driving from Birmingham to London without a motorway and regularly squeezing through villages on the way.
It is worth making the journey to the Bell Inn at Winterbourne Stoke just to marvel at how much traffic can be funnelled through a tiny village.
It is like a cruel joke being played on unsuspecting travellers who might think that the main route from London to the South West would not involve catching a glimpse of the locals desperately trying to run across the road. Not all drivers manage to reduce their speed to something near the regulation 40mph. I sometimes wonder if those living in Winterourne Stoke on one side of the road ever actually get to meet the people on the other side, or if it is just too dangerous to attempt the crossing.
How will regular users feel about the A303 when all the villages have been bypassed and the road becomes one more ribbon of featureless dual carriageway for its entire length?
Will their lives be improved when they never get to see a village or a local landmark and driving time is only ever interrupted by a visit to a homogenised and over-crowded Little Chef car park, with bad tempered parents coping with badly behaved children?
Not that there is anything wrong with Little Chefs — it is just that you could be eating anywhere from Gretna Green to Lands End and nowadays they no longer even provide the “place mats” to tell you where you are (as featured in the Fascinating Aida song).
I think that those living in Winterourne Stoke on one side of the road did get to meet the people on the other side by crossing the road at an unpopular time of the day, but didn’t some problems arise when someone or other started to travel through at that time as well! 🙁 🙂
David Evans
Good point.
There was a time when Winterbourne Stoke was regularly plastered with Liberal Democrat posters at every election. So I assume that at least an intrepid local activist made it across the road, although maybe they had to wait until after midnight to do so.