Eric Pickles lends his weight to Bedworth traffic campaign

Shoppers in Bedworth reacted warmly this week to a visit by Tory heavyweight Eric Pickles – the Conservative Party Chairman – who threw his weight behind a local campaign to ease traffic congestion in the town.

Local Conservatives have been campaigning for years for extra slip roads at the Newtown Road Interchange on the A444 bypass to ease the appalling build up of congestion at rush hour in the town.

Bedworth Conservative councillors Barry Lobbett, Damon Brown and John Ison are currently running a petition calling on the County Council to bring forward proposals for the construction of additional slip roads to allow smoother access to the by pass, or a suitable alternative.

The issue has united the town, and local people queued up to meet Top Tory Eric Pickles and to sign the petition. County Council leader Alan Farnell joined the group, and gave his backing to the campaign.

Visibly delighted at the public response, campaign leader and Borough Councillor Barry Lobbett said:

“It was great to have Conservative Party chairman Eric Pickles here today to lend his weight to the Bedworth by-pass campaign. Council leader Alan Farnell was also here to add his support and to counter the misleading headlines about the campaign that have appeared in some sections of the Press recently. Today's visit shows that the Conservative Party at all levels is really behind this idea after decades of failure by Labour.

“Everywhere we go in Bedworth there is almost 100% support for the idea of building the extra slip roads. People realise that the money will have to be found to do the work and this will not happen overnight. That said our campaign will move the issue further up the agenda at County Hall to make sure the work goes ahead as soon as practicable.”

Conservative Party Chairman Eric Pickles said: “I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Bedworth, and I hope that my contribution to the bypass campaign will help to bring a solution that bit closer. It is a pleasure to see local people so passionate about their town, and it is clear that this is an issue which genuinely unites people.

“What is important is that decisions such as this can be made locally, by local people and their councillors, and that council spending decisions are not constantly hampered by interference from an over-centralised government in Whitehall.

“It is also clear that the people of Bedworth are fortunate to have to have such a doughty and hard working campaigner for the town as Barry Lobbett.”