Today's Daily Telegraph carries an obituary of Lord Kelvedon, (aka Mrs Thatcher's former Transport Minister Paul Channon ). The DT informs us that Channon once proclaimed himself to be "the biggest road and bridge builder since Julius Caesar".
"He prised funds from the Treasury to complete the M40, began widening the M25.
Channon pioneered open public debate on road pricing and toll roads and private financing for transport schemes, allowed the sale of "cherished" car number plates and prepared the way for rail privatisation."
But Channon's enthusiasm for the building of new roads did have its limits. After retiring from the Commons, the DT informs us:
"Channon and his wife opened their gardens to fund a campaign against the proposed M12 motorway, which looked like running uncomfortably close to Kelvedon Hall."
Politicians, eh. Don't you just love 'em.
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1 comment:
Neat story.
Our long drawn out planning system encourages this & has immense costs. The most visible being the high cost of housing which is purely the result of the supply & demand curves when supply is kept articicially below natural replacement.
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