John Marriott

By John Marriott Columnist

Well, it looks as if that long promised relief road for the town in which I have lived for the past 45 years is yet another step nearer to reality.

This week a card from the County Council came through my door inviting my views on the ‘North Hykeham Relief Road’ (a far more appropriate name than the rather vague ‘Southern Bypass’, which had been previously chosen) and inviting me and other residents to a series of meetings in September.

With work scheduled to begin in three years’ time and a completion date by around 2027, with a bit of luck, I might still be around to see it, although possibly by then and given my age, without the ability to drive my car along it — and I don’t suppose they’ll allow mobility scooters! On the other hand, given our present financial situation and possible protests from environmentalists, delays necessitated by archaeologists and other interests etc, it could all still be much later, if at all.

I’ve written about a relief road around the Hykehams before – indeed I made a rather minor local political career out of campaigning for it – so apologies to those of you who know the history. For those who don’t, please feel free to carry on reading. I wrote ‘Hykehams’ intentionally, because when the plans for the ‘Eastern Bypass’ were originally published in 1951, the road was envisaged to go from where Pennell’s roundabout is today, heading south around North Hykeham, passing between South and North Hykeham at Beck Lane, then heading up Waddington Cliff from Brant Road near Station Road, around Bracebridge Heath and eventually, in the east, eventually joining the A158 Wragby Road, at Bunkers Hill.

This all changed when the government published plans in the early 1980s, which envisaged a western route from the old A46 heading north of Lincoln to the A15 Riseholme Road. Some years ago a former senior highways official told me that this was the stretch, which was the responsibility of the Department of Highways, (as it still is) and which qualified for government finance. The County Council then agreed to fund the continuation of the road as far as the A158. So, when the new ‘Western Bypass’, renamed the A46, was opened by Transport Minister Linda Chalker MP back in the 1980s, that’s what we got.

The old plan was allowed to lapse, which meant that the protected line between the Hykehams at Beck Lane and up Waddington Cliff from Brant Road became history. The latest plan now goes to the west of South Hykeham and its climb up Waddington Cliff is now not by means of a flyover — but would appear to convert Station Road, Waddington into two cul de sacs.

That it will be a dual carriageway is an added bonus; but in my humble opinion, not essential. After all, it’s a relief road and not of strategic importance to traffic wishing to move from the East Midlands corridor to the east coast ports, whose importance will only increase as we try to cope with the changing status that Brexit necessitates in an effort to relieve pressure from the Channel ports and the southeast in particular.

Incidentally, the County Council’s original plans for a fully dualled Eastern Relief Road were rejected by the Coalition Government for precisely that reason. In its opinion at the time a new road south of Lincoln was essentially a commuter route. It did not consider it of strategic importance to the wider East Midlands. That’s why it ended up a single carriageway. All I would say is that it was better to have a new road here than none at all. Life is full of compromises. It’s a pity that the many ‘cakeists’ can’t get the message!

I first got interested in a North Hykeham Relief Road in the 1980s and, when I became a Town Councillor in 1987, helped to organise a campaign for a town bypass, which culminated in a 4,000+ signature petition being delivered to opposition parties at Westminster in 1996. Unfortunately, our local Conservative MP at the time would not back us, citing the lack of enthusiasm from the then Lib/Lab led County Council. In all fairness, he did have a point. Mind you, it’s not the only time that I’ve felt let down by my erstwhile colleagues and natural partners. I’m pleased to see that our present MP has adopted a much more positive position, especially as she can now rely on what amounts to a political monopoly on the County Council.

So, why aren’t I jumping for joy? Well, while a North Hykeham Relief road might ease some of the problems caused by mainly commuter traffic trying to get around the town on roads which have changed little from the days of the horse and cart, the problems along Newark Road, Doddington and Skellingthorpe Roads will only really be eased when something is done about the level crossings on the last two. Why not consider dropping the rail line from North Hykeham to pass below these roads? Now that WOULD be radical – and expensive too. Where there’s a will…

In the meantime, we really ought to be putting more effort into dualling those parts of the Western Bypass that remain stubbornly single lane. This road, as I have written before, is the key strategic road for traffic moving east to west and vice versa that wishes to bypass Lincoln. While the stretch from Pennells roadabout and from the Doddington to Skellingthorpe Road is still the responsibility of HM Government in the form of Highways England, the stretch from the A15 to the A158 is, as far as I know, still the responsibility of the County Council. So the latter stretch, given its essential rural nature, could be dualled comparatively cheaply as soon as there was the political will from County Hall. The other piece, given the first stretch needs to cross water, might be more expensive; but, actually, that is the stretch that gets the most traffic. Have you tried to access Pennells roundabout from the A1434 or from Middle Lane or the A46 from Moor Lane, Thorpe on the Hill, recently?

You know, if it really came down to cost, and I was asked to choose between a dual carriageway Hykeham Relief Road and status quo for the Western Bypass or a cheaper single carriage relief road and a fully dualled Western Bypass, I reckon I might just choose the latter.

John was a councillor for thirty years, finally retiring in 2017. A schoolteacher by profession, he served on the North Hykeham Town Council (1987-2011), the North Kesteven District Council (1987-1999, 2001-2007) and the Lincolnshire County Council (2001-2017). He was also a County Council member of the former Lincolnshire Police Authority for eight years until standing down in 2009. In 1997 he was the Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate for Sleaford and North Hykeham. He is currently not a member of any political party.

By John Marriott Columnist

It’s quite a while since I ventured an opinion on The Lincolnite. Besides Barry Turner’s heroic occasional mansplaining it would appear that, for many residents of the county, politics is an indulgence they wish to avoid.

Given all the problems we are facing at present, who can blame them? Changing the world isn’t something on which many folks appear to be keen at the moment. In any case, as far as Lincolnshire is concerned, business as usual appears to be business as usual.

With the possible exception of Lincoln City, there appear even now to be slim pickings for any political party other than the Conservatives in any of the county’s seven parliamentary constituencies, especially now that UKIP’s work appears to have been done.

As someone, who grew up in the 1960s I suppose I take my political credo from the words of the late Bobby Kennedy, the younger brother of JFK and, like him, the victim of an assassin’s bullet: “Some men (remember, ladies, his words were uttered some sixty years ago) see things as they are and ask why. I dream of things that never were and ask why not”.

Since the Tory government took us out of the EU, much has changed in our lives. Brexit has finally happened, although it is clearly far from ‘done’. COVID has been confronted but is still with us at present in a less harmful form, Boris Johnson has been defenestrated and now our new PM is about to be chosen by around 160,000 Tory Party members, considerably less than the 14 million (just over 43%), who ‘chose’ their PM in the 2019 General Election. The turnout then was a tad over 63%. So you do the maths and work out what actual support that party and its Leader got nearly four years ago. (I reckon it was around 31% of the whole electorate).

So we have, in percentage terms, a government with the support of under a third of those entitled to vote, making decisions on our behalf with no apparent forward plan other than to cut taxes and blame Johnny Foreigner for all our present difficulties. To cap it all, we are about to have yet another new Prime Minister, whose mandate to govern is based on their ability to woo the faithful. As Mr Spock might have said to Captain Kirk; “It’s politics, Jim; but not as we know it”.

In theory, as Barry Turner has written before, we actually go to the polls in a General Election to choose a Member of Parliament. However, I would bet that most people prefer to think that they are voting for a party to form a government. Many also identify that party with a single person, hence the current beauty contest being played out for the benefit of Tory Party members.

I agree with Barry that it’s time we stopped trying to ape the USA in pretending we have a presidential system, because we don’t. However isn’t it also about time that we developed a political system, which reflects modern needs rather than those of the 19th century? I’ve made it clear in previous articles what I think we need to do to drag our politics kicking and screaming into the 21st century. I’m not going to go over old ground again.

I suppose, when the next General Election comes round (which ought to be sooner rather than later, especially now the Fixed Term Parliament Act is no more), the choice for most people would traditionally be between the Conservatives and Labour. The answer to a Tory government being a Labour government makes about as much sense to me as the recent quote from a spokesperson for the Nation Rifle Association in the US that; “The answer to a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun”.

Yes, of course the Labour Party has to be a major player in an anti Tory riposte; but not, to use another NRA analogy, “the whole shooting match”. That for me and I reckon for many other pragmatic voters is the dilemma for all the non Tory parties. How do you make your vote count in a system weighted against pluralism, where people still crave black and white when we live in a multi coloured world?

Please don’t base your judgement on coalition government just on what happened between 2010 and 2015. Despite the Cameron/Clegg government’s faults, given what came afterwards, if I were asked to choose which half of the decade I would be prepared to relive, it certainly wouldn’t be the second half!

Individually, the opposition parties would find it hard to bring about change, even if they sought to do so; but, working constructively together, they might just be able to do it. They miserably failed the unity test in 2019. Will they learn the lesson for next time, or will the largest minority, whether blue or red, prove triumphant again?

John was a councillor for thirty years, finally retiring in 2017. A schoolteacher by profession, he served on the North Hykeham Town Council (1987-2011), the North Kesteven District Council (1987-1999, 2001-2007) and the Lincolnshire County Council (2001-2017). He was also a County Council member of the former Lincolnshire Police Authority for eight years until standing down in 2009. In 1997 he was the Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate for Sleaford and North Hykeham. He is currently not a member of any political party.