Councillor's A141 claim not all it seems

IT has been brought to my attention that the good people of Huntingdon East (Hartford) and Godmanchester have received their In-touch edition for May 2009 with one of the headlines The A141 scheme we asked for starts . It claims that Jeff Dutton was o

IT has been brought to my attention that the good people of Huntingdon East (Hartford) and Godmanchester have received their "In-touch" edition for May 2009 with one of the headlines "The A141 scheme we asked for starts".

It claims that Jeff Dutton was one of the key figures supporting the road improvements. It also states that "the local press supported our campaign".

I can confirm that Cllr Dutton was present at some of the initial meetings. But it was only because we, the Warren Hay Action Group, with the support of local people/businesses drove for continued improvements that we are where we are today.

Cllr Dutton seems to be confused because he was quite prepared at several stages to accept the inadequate proposals from the working groups (a concrete island in the middle of the road with no lights and no footpath). We said 'no' all the way until we got what we wanted, a safe crossing over the A141 with footpath/cycle paths on both sides of the road.

I believe The Hunts Post and Cllr Sam Kemp (Lib Dem) first aired the pedestrian crossing as a viable compromise between all parties.

Cllr Dutton, give credit where credit is due. You were there at the start but trailed off miserably in the end.

MAXINE HAY

Warren Hay Action Group

Editor's note: The idea for the light-controlled crossing was put forward by Ian MacKellar at The Hunts Post. Cllr Kemp may also have had the same idea at the same time.