Bridge too far for Willie
David O'Leary • Published 29 Jul 2011 09:30
3 Comments
A LOCAL councillor claims he is wrongly being hounded to publicly state his position on the siting of a second bridge in Peebles.
This is despite several of his fellow local councillors having repeatedly made known their own preferred choices.
SNP councillor Willie Archibald feels he has been subjected to persistent lobbying from local campaign group, A Bridge Too Far (ABTF), about the issue of a new Tweed crossing.
And he feels the issue is now getting out of hand driven by what he describes as 'nimbyism'.
ABTF was set up earlier this year by local residents with the one clear aim of ensuring that new bridge crossing options B1 and B2, as identified in the Peebles Transport Study, are formally withdrawn from consideration.
Councillor Archibald said: "This whole thing smacks of nimbyism and it's getting somewhat out of hand. The bridge will have to go somewhere and these folk are, I admit, quite rightly concerned about what it could do to their area and house prices.
"But these individuals have attempted by what can only be described as a form of coercion to force rejection of certain route options by persistently lobbying all six Tweeddale councillors.
"This is before any final recommendations are brought before the council and of course, any democratic process of discussion and voting on the options has taken place.
"Any councillors pre-empting this process by pre-judging and making public their opinion runs a very high risk of excluding themselves from decision making and voting on this issue at any future council meetings."
However local councillor Graham Garvie disagrees with this and has repeatedly stated his dislike for options B1 and B2.
As has his fellow Lib Dem colleague Catriona Bhatia.
He said: "I see no reason why individual councillors cannot state their views on what is an important matter for the town.
"I am totally against options B1 and B2, no way should a new bridge be built across a public park or too near houses."
A view echoed by councillor Bhatia who said: "Routes 1 and 2 would offer no real benefit to the town so close to the existing bridge. Any new bridge would ruin the visual impact of that part of town.
"We have to think 50 or 100 years ahead, Peebles will get bigger and so either of the most easterly options would be best."
ABTF member Tristan Compton is dismayed by councillor Archibald's refusal to similarly commit his views in public stating: "I think councillor Archibald has become a bit confused between a public consultation, which this is, and an actual planning application.
"This isn't a planning matter so there should be nothing barring him from stating his opinion unless it's a political move to keep his head down ahead of next May's local elections."
This article appeared in Peeblesshire News 29 Jul 11
Have your say. Post a comment on this article.
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Tweed lover
Unregistered User
Jul 29, 23:51
Report commentSo what does Councillor Archibald think his job is - if not to listen to the views of his constituents? If he just wants a quiet life, maybe it is time to retire and let someone who cares about Peebles, stand up for Peebles.
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hazelkaye
224 posts
Aug 1, 19:52
Report comment -
mother
Unregistered User
Aug 5, 10:38
Report commentif they think the town is going to get bigger shouldn't they be thinking about building a bigger high school ,more and more houses are being built for families ,but they are not thinking about our high school its bursting at its seams now ,so forget about bridges think about our kids at high school
Recommend? Yes 10
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