Countryside or Concrete?

This is a painting I've been working on depicting a storm over the Arun valley. It's mixed media, full size 45cm x 33cm, though I may format it to a smaller size, perhaps a square. It's taken a while as I've been struggling with it somewhat and putting it to one side for weeks at a time, with my attention on outdoor and other artwork. There are meteorological elements in there, including weather maps with deep low pressure systems like those that rammed much of England and Wales the winter before last. However, it's really about dark clouds of a political kind: more about the Arundel Bypass later in this entry.

Further to my last posting here, I have finished reading about Charles Rangeley-Wilson's lost river in High Wycombe. A thought provoking and sad story coming based on thorough research. Dedication and perseverance in his sifting through the local archives, dealings with the local council and his wanders around the area in all weathers from snow to heatwave. Near the end, he said hopes for undoing at least some of the culverting imposed in the mid-1960s were dashed with the building of a new shopping centre right over it. Apparently, when the opportunity came to regenerate the area during the 2000s, uncovering the river was mooted but it came down to first costs and profit motive - the developers deemed it too expensive. As that was where the money was, the local authority had no choice but to go along with them. As we've seen elsewhere, this involved discussions / meetings closed off to the public.  All things we're seeing time and again, with the same mistakes repeated time and again.

Earlier this week, I had a sketching session along the River Arun between the Black Rabbit and South Stoke. It was a lovely day with warm spring sunshine. See Sketches along West Sussex Rivers in my Water and Art blog. The valley here is a haven from the busy roads surrounding it. Thankfully there is a pelican crossing near Arundel railway station, but this part of the A27 was oppressive, both when I arrived around 11:00am and when I headed home around 6pm, during the evening peak hour. Amid the unrelenting streams of heavy traffic, were numerous large heavy lorries which made it feel all the more oppressive. Accessing the Burpham road from here on foot is now nigh impossible to do safely as there is no footway across the railway bridge on the north side of the road. Now, people (lots of them) will argue all this as a case for a new bypass to the south. Understandable, but only when considering getting from A-B as quickly as possible, ignoring the wider consequences. Ignoring, too past experience showing bigger roads drawing in more traffic from a larger area, attendant development, with traffic congestion returning before too long. At Newbury, apparently, this took just six years.

There is now a website dedicated to the Arundel Bypass: A27 Arundel Bypass Neighbourhood Committee - http://www.arundelbypass.co.uk/

I hope they don't mind me sharing their photo they recently put up on Facebook, promoting the public meeting in Arundel on 27th April. Regrettably, I can't attend, ironically because of transport issues - evening meetings are harder to  get to / from, even closer to home. I could identify very well with the saga recently shared on Facebook last weekend. Amongst other things, this included another footpath dumping people alongside the busy dual carriageway, with a dangerous crossing. Away from the main urban areas - London and the coastal strip - getting around by public transport is at best tricky, at worst nigh impossible, and has been for decades, buses having been insidiously cut back.

Finally, I know there are lots of other issues for people to think about - among them healthcare, national security, worries about further cuts to public services after the forthcoming general election. Even so, I'm disappointed that transport and the environment are not bigger issues, even though they affect us all. Questioning the basic premise of cars / trucks being king and thinking beyond first costs and profit motive is long overdue.

Continuing along the A27 / Hidden Dangers

My sketch looking towards Arundel from the south, 25/01/15

Further to the above entry -Storms of Protest Along the A27 (23rd January 2015), this mostly a list of links, cut-and-pastings of news, comment and letters of protest from the South Coast Action for Transport (SCATE) and their Arundel branch (from Facebook and their emailing list). 

They begin with the Road Investment Strategy on the Gov.uk site- feasibility studies, including A27 corridor along the south coast published by the government 12/03/15.

This was Arundel SCATE's (South Coast Action for Transport and The Environment) .press release in response, posted by Kay Wagland of Arundel SCATE on their Facebook page, 16th March. Note particularly what I’ve highlighted in bold:

New report: A27 road plans built on sand

Arundel residents reject the recommendations of the newly published report on the A27, deploring its lack of valid evidence and outdated thinking.

The A27 Corridor Feasibility Study, commissioned by the Department for Transport (DfT), says there is a need to increase road capacity due to the predicted increase in traffic, but Arundel SCATE points out that the same predictions were made in the major 2002 A27 SoCoMMS study, which is referenced by this new report. According to DfT's own figures, whilst the economy has grown significantly since then, the predicted expansion in traffic hasn't happened. Traffic levels in West Sussex have actually fallen since 2000. Traffic along the A27 itself has stayed about level.

Local businessman and Arundel resident, Simon Gray, is concerned by poor value for money of proposals. He points out that the traffic problems at Worthing and Chichester are far worse than those at Arundel and said: 'There is no economic justification for spending the bulk of allocated funds on a controversially damaging road scheme at Arundel, when a far cheaper and less intrusive scheme could relieve choke points here.' He added, 'Building such an expensive road so that traffic can arrive at nearby choke points at Fontwell and Worthing a minute or so earlier, seems a very poor use of public funds.'

The report, which was commissioned from US company Parsons Brinkerhoff last year, was asked to consider road improvements along the A27, and it draws for its economic justification on a 2013 study, commissioned by Arun District Council (also undertaken by Parsons Brinkerhoff). Arundel SCATE says the 2013 study is of extremely poor quality.

The report recommendations have limited the A27 Arundel improvements to two options, both away from the existing road and cutting across the Arun Valley.The residents' group wants to see other options discussed, to include junction and traffic flow improvements to the current A27. They see the potential for some of these to be more effective, better value and significantly less damaging than those recommended by the report. Options considering improvements along or near the existing A27 are rejected by the report arguing that this divides Arundel. However, it proposes creating a dual carriageway through Worthing, dividing the town to a far higher degree. There appears to be no analysis of start and end points of A27 journeys which would create considerable congestion on local roads.

Contrary to previous claims by elected representatives, the new report admits that building a dual carriageway bypass to Arundel does mean increased noise and air pollution, along with increased traffic volume. Other 'adverse impacts' include: wildlife, landscape, historic environment, carbon emissions and waterways.

Arundel SCATE Chair and local businesswoman, Sue White, says: 'We all understand frustrations at peak times at Arundel, but these can be significantly improved by junction improvements around Crossbush and, of course, there is the new A259 road at Bognor which will impact on traffic in the area. Traffic is fairly free flowing for much of the time. People in Arun [as elsewhere] need investment in public transport for the majority who don't have daily access to a car.'

Arundel SCATE member Jo Kemp, describes the report as narrow and old fashioned: 'It doesn't seem to have learnt the lessons of the past, particularly on wasting money. It is disturbing that this study was not asked to consider an integrated plan for travel, but is just concentrating on hugely damaging new roads.

Notes: Arundel South Coast Alliance for Transport and the Environment is a group of Arundel residents concerned at damaging and outdated road proposals along the A27 and looking for better travel options.

fb: Arundel SCATE www.scate.org.uk

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I apologise if the links below are hard to read (the text appearing dark) or don't work without copying the URL directly. I've been having trouble formatting this section. A trickling BT broadband connection - periodically drying up completely - isn't helping. 

These are some notes and links I've picked up via SCATE prior to the publication of the Feasibility Study:

SCATE - http://scate.org.uk/parishes-reject-major-road-building-for-a27/

It seems ongoing bias in the local media and clandestine meetings, apparently with vested interests invited but not the local community or anyone whose views may differ from the prevailing Roads - Bring Them On! dogma - Campaigners protest outside "closed" A27 meeting in Eastbourne, Sussex Express, 27th January

http://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/county-news/campaigners-protest-outside-closed-a27-meeting-in-eastbourne-1-6546920

Caroline Lucas of the Green Party, too, have had words to say recently about the proposed Arundel bypass, according to the Arundel SCATE Facebook page, 10th February:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/559438677502946/ 

I also had this blog recommended to me - Winter Oak - Acorn 1. In February, there was a piece about the Arundel bypass, saying more or less what I've said, though more forthrightly and concisely:

http://winteroak.org.uk/2015/02/06/the-acorn-1/#1

This is turn, directed me to the aptly named SCAR - South Coast Against Roadbuilding

http://www.scar-uk.co.uk/

Below are links to some of the press reports over the winter, emailed SCATE. I haven't read them all, but many of the headlines imply, if not blatant bias, a strong vibe of Bring It On!.

http://www.littlehamptongazette.co.uk/news/letters/threat-to-bypass-1-6507101

http://www.chichester.co.uk/news/more-a27-concern-over-shopwyke-1-6507800

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/local/fears-potholes-on-a27-could-cause-crashes-1-6502575

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/3473/contents/made

http://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/letters/need-for-new-road-link-separate-to-existing-a27-1-6481294

http://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/letters/train-link-mp-jumping-on-the-tory-bandwagon-1-6490184

http://www.worthingherald.co.uk/news/letters/a27-the-quest-for-balance-1-6476723

http://www.chichester.co.uk/news/letters/letter-another-delay-to-a27-improvements-1-6480405

http://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/letters/a27-funding-comes-not-a-moment-too-soon-1-6471139

http://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/consultants-appointed-for-a27-chichester-bypass-scheme

http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/local/a27-funding-new-road-is-still-a-possibility-1-6470687

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I've illustrated this piece with some sketches I did walking the stretch of the River Arun between Ford and Arundel: the area where I turbo-charged A27 would impinge on the floodplain. This on a cloudy day in late January, wending my way along a very slippery river bank. Not the easiest of sketching conditions; I was on my feet all the time and it felt cold standing around too long. Nevertheless, I wanted more observational material for paintings in progress, continuing the Storms of Protest theme. My first sketch was at Ford church. It felt very peaceful here, though I was very aware of traffic on the busy Ford road behind me, between the A27 and A259 roads.

In February, I wrote here about a walk I did in the Farnham area in east Surrey a few weeks later. Around the town and along the River Wey out to Moor Park, I was very aware of the traffic on the A31 bypass. Farnham has had a big traffic problem throughout my life, being a convergence of several busy roads. The building of the A331 Blackwater Valley link road between the M3 and A31 should have lessened the heavy lorry load in Farnham town centre, together with quashing arguments for a western bypass threatening if not Farnham Park itself, its relative peace and quiet. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to have been the case. Heavy traffic, including HGVs still ploughs through the town centre, presumably using the A287 as a cut through between the M3 and A3. Someone told me some satnavs allegedly encourage this.

Hidden Dangers

A sign spotted on the way up towards Ingleborough, June 2014

During February, too, there were been other worrying reports about potential threats to our countryside. This time not from road building or local pressures on housing stock, but potentially selling off what is now public land. I understand this is partly due to pressures on local authorities to, apparently, sell of public land to the private sector, in the face of ongoing public funding cuts. Even, as the campaign group 38 Degrees claim areas within Britain's National Parks and woodland. A link to the 38 Degrees petition (accessed 27/02/15):

https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/save-our-national-parks#petition

These areas need to be protected. I have a real fear of future threats to not just national parks and woodlands but rights of way. Recently, I came across a new, exclusive development in the rural west Surrey. As well as resenting the exclusiveness and development, I thought it looked visually intrusive. This was on what has long been private land, but what would stop this kind of thing springing up on what we currently know as public space / common land if it was to be sold off in the future?

The Telegraph, 12/02/15 - Seven iconic Lake District beauty spots to be sold off

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/countryside/11407920/Seven-iconic-Lake-District-beauty-spots-to-be-sold-off.html

The Guardian, 17/02/15 - Privatisation of UK woodlands is happening by the backdoor

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2015/feb/17/privatisation-uk-woodlands-happening-by-backdoor

More of my sketches can be viewed on my Water and Art blog.

A selection of my mixed media paintings and collage are on my website, www.joanleeart.com

Entry date, 25/02/15. Updated 11/03/15, 12/03/15, 17/03/15

Storms of protest along the A27

This is a large (paper size 61cm x 43cm) mixed media painting based on the view looking towards Arundel and the Castle from the south, walking along the footpath on the west side of the River Arun from Ford. This is the very view which is threatened by the government's grand plans for the A27 announced early last month - see Mixed news from Sussex and the Downs. The storm brewing up the valley behind the Castle, then is a storm of protest.

I've tried to depict the storm clouds hanging over the valley, emanating from London, where all the key decisions are made, more often than not favouring vested interests. In this case, the road lobby at the expense of the Sussex countryside.

This is one of the folded art books I've been working on during January. There's a bit about roads here, too, together with mixed messages on climate change, fossil fuels - shale gas extraction fracking) and oil; economic growth at the expense of all else. During January, too, scientist at the Met. Office, Nasa and Noaa confirmed that 2014 was the hottest year on record, both in the UK and globally:

Met. Office - press release, 5th January 2015 - 2014 confirmed as the UK's the warmest year on record

The Guardian 17th January 2015 - 2014 officially the hottest year on record [globally]

Such reports should be all more reason for a balanced investment in Britain's future infrastructure, benefiting the whole British population, rather than costly damaging road building schemes such as the Arundel bypass just to keep the road lobby happy.

The book also features a cutting about the infrastructure bill going through the Commons, to be voted on next week (26th January), I gather. Here, roads are just part of the problem. If it becomes law, it will have very worrying implications for land use, public access and development. Damaging road schemes will be being only part of the problem. 

More about my artwork on my http://www.joanleeart.com/my website, Joan Lee Artist Facebook page and my Water and Art blog. 

My new years resolution for 2015 is to keep it arty. As well as committing time to the creative process, preparing and promoting my work, it's about preferring to leave out news and politics, particularly on social networking sites. During this general election year, there's every danger of serious info' overload, of various persuasions. Though we all need to be aware of what's going on and should be free to express our views online, too much of it too often can leave people feeling more down than a river during a long drought. 

As with the above examples, though I may have the news and recent weather events in mind when producing artwork. It's also a better for my sanity. Invariably, I use newspaper cuttings as part of a the background collage in a mixed media painting, though it needs to be subtle instead of an in-your-face-distraction.

A walk in the Winchester area recently brought home just how road / car dominated this country already is, particularly the busy, densely populated southeast. To the north of Winchester, the River Itchen - a chalk stream prized by anglers for its salmon and trout - is shunted under the M3, A34 and A33. We had to walk under three subways to get into the city from the upper Itchen valley: although safe from the traffic, it wasn't pleasant. I'd have felt insecure walking here alone. The noise of the traffic was oppressive, especially where the footpaths ran parallel to the roads. The roads around Winchester are a prime example of what not to do, particularly Twyford Down, where the M3 passes through a gash in the chalk downland. Here, there was a very strong case for improving the M3 and A31. Until the 1990s, walking from the city centre up to St. Catherine's Hill and the countryside to the east would have involved a dangerous road crossing. The road was narrow for the amount of traffic it carried. There were certainly road protests and calls to minimise the damage to the surrounding countryside by building a tunnel. However, this was deemed too expensive, purely on first costs. Compare and contrast with the Hindhead Tunnel (A3) opened in 2011. Not only does the traffic flow more smoothly here than it did before (though not the case everywhere along the A3), it's now possible to walk from the Devil's Punch Bowl to Gibbet Hill without having to cross a trunk road. Northwards along the A34, is the Newbury bypass, another controversial scheme from the 1990s. This pre-dates the bypass, but the Wayferer's Walk along the ridge of the Wessex Downs (an area I visited last autumn with the Wessex Branch of the Open University Geological Society) appears from the OS Landranger map to either involve a dangerous trunk road crossing, or a diversion of about three miles between Ladle Hill and Beacon Hill.

Throughout history, throughout the world, rivers have been lines of communication. If not navigation, their valleys have been natural gaps through which to route roads and railways. What's not so good is when roads / cars / lorries are allowed to dominate to the detriment of everyone else. Thankfully, unlike the Mole valley through the North Downs (A24, M25 nearby too), the Arun valley through the South Downs does not have a major A'road running along it. Nonetheless, there are already several busy roads in its vicinity which impinge on it (A27, A283, A29). It would hurt me to see the road scenarios I've described around Winchester and Newbury repeated at the expense of the Sussex countryside. 

Mixed news from Sussex and the Downs

December 2014

• Good news - River Lavant flowing again
• Bad news - Arundel bypass
•  

  River Lavant flowing again

My collage inspired by the Lavant (2012)

I headed into Chichester on Monday morning (8th December) to drop off my paintings for the Journeys exhibition at the Oxmarket Centre of Arts. After this and a few bits of Christmas shopping, I headed to The Trundle, following our regular walking route out of the city to East Lavant and along the valley up Haye's Down to The Trundle. Though it wasn't the frosty morning we'd had along the Severn over the weekend, it was clear and bright, if cold in the north wind. I had to be quick sketching today, beginning with the view towards the church at East Lavant from the SW with The Trundle behind. During my brief lunch stop, gulls and crows in the valley at the foot of Haye's Down. 

When I got to East Lavant and crossed Sheepwash Lane to take the path across the footbridge and along the valley, I was pleased to see the River Lavant flowing again. When I last looked at the beginning of November, it was still dry, but I'd hoped it would be flowing again by now. Rainfall during October and November made up for the shortfall in September. By now, some of this rainfall should have percolated through the soil into chalk to raise the water table once again. It still looked a bit low: it's still fairly early in the season, with the rainfall during the latter half of November possibly still to infiltrate. According to Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the groundwater level in the Chilgrove well, on the chalk to the west of Chichester, dropped rapidly from the highs of last winter and was still below the long term average depth at the end of October. It still had some catching up to do after the exceptionally dry September.

Unsustainable developments along the Arun

At the beginning of December 2014, the government announced a string road “improvements” . Many in southern England are along the south coast, along the M27-A27 corridor between Southampton and Lewes. Those in densely populated south Hampshire (mainly road widening) are closer to home. However, I feel more strongly against the proposals for the A27 through rural Sussex, especially The Arundel bypass. This and the new Chichester bypass (also on again) were dropped by the Blair government in 2003 on the grounds that they would be too environmentally damaging. Sadly now, it seems that protecting the environment, the countryside or people’s health and wellbeing in the future is deemed less important than growing the economy for the benefit of vested interests in the road lobby.

The £15 billion programme comes despite the Chancellor’s insistence that the deficit between public spending and tax revenue must be cut during the next parliament: reportedly to the tune of £55 billion. If true, public services – including health, social care, public transport and local authority budgets would take an even heavier hammering than they've done up to now. That isn't belt tightening: more twisted prioritising favour of vested interests.

When I first heard about Arundel in Emma Tristram’s letter to The Guardian, 3rd December, I was depressed, disappointed and angry. This is a part of the country I've come to love as an artist, river and downland walker over several decades. As southeast England goes, this area has remained relatively unspoilt until now, though the traffic in the area is already off-putting. 

The existing bypass built in the 1970s comprises the A27 coming down the hill from Crossbush to the east, crossing the railway near the train station; a left turn at the roundabout; across the Arun downstream of the town centre; then uphill to the west; with the A284 coming in from the north at another roundabout. The narrow stretch of road across the railway line near the train station is oppressive. Though there is a pelican crossing near the roundabout, there is no footway across the railway bridge. Crossing the A27 here on foot to reach Crossbush Lane to Warningcamp and Burpham can be nigh impossible. Clearly, then there is big room for improvement here, but wouldn't it be better to simply widen the existing road and improve the juncitons here rather than build a beefed-up trunk road to the south.  SCATE, the South Coast Alliance for Transport and the Environment, have some constructive and more sustainable ideas here. Not only would they be less environmentally damaging, they would also benefit a wider cross-section of people, including walkers, cyclists and overdue investment in public transport. 

The new dual carriageway, to the south and west of Arundel, will cut across the floodplain and intrude into the South Downs National Park. To the west of Arundel, it will either slice through a large area of woodland within the National Park, or damage the villages of  Tortington, Binsted and Walberton. Until now, when I've walked from Ford  to Arundel along the River Arun, I've enjoyed the view of north upriver to the town and Castle with the Downs behind (picture above, last August). The new road will cut straight through that. And what will it be like with all the noise, dust and lorry movements while the road is being built?

If it really must be built, how about firstly ensuring safe, pedestrian and cycle access along the more minor but busy roads all along the valley. I’d still like to be able to get off the train at Ford and walk into Arundel along the river without having to take my life into my hands crossing a trunk road. Currently, the footpath along the west bank of the Arun passes under the A27 at the existing bypass bridge. Further up the valley how about safer crossings where the South Downs Way crosses the A29 and B2139 across the river at Houghton? There is no footway along the B’road through Houghton and the traffic over Houghton Bridge is oppressive. This is a busy road, apparently a cut-through between the A29 and A283 at Storrington.

Experience on the road network so far has shown that new roads generate more traffic. Before long, the roads are just as, or even more, congested than they were before - M25, M27 and A34 all notable examples in the south. All the more with chronic under-investment in public transport, walking or cycling.  

The Sussex area is being squeezed at both ends: the growth of outer London to the north; and ribbon urban development along the south coast. Calls for expansion of Gatwick Airport with a second runway are growing louder and louder. A decision here looms in 2015. As if the latest road building announcement isn’t enough,  I understand from the government report that a study into an orbital motorway around the M25 is in the offing.  I’m also concerned about the potential impacts of fracking, ie exploitation of shale gas in the Sussex Weald, including Fernhurst near Blackdown.

The transport sector, particularly road and air, is a major contributor to human-induced climate change through greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution through particulates, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide.

Receiving considerably less attention during the first week of December were press releases about both these issues. The Met. Office say that 2014 was the hottest year in the UK and globally.  There has been a cluster of such announcements during the past twenty to thirty years, with records broken seemingly ever year or every other year. If this warming doesn’t reflect the rising levels of greenhouse gases through human activities – including traffic – what else is doing it?

UK and global temperature records, 2014

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releases/archive/2014/2014-global-temperature

Then, as if to indicate completely disjointed thinking in government, came a press release  from Parliament.uk, also reported on the BBC News website, about the urgent need to tackle increasing levels of air pollution.

Change planning rules to protect children from air pollution

To quote from the press release from the Department of Transport published on 1st December:

·investing around £350 million to transform the A27, with a new bypass at Arundel to complete the ‘missing link’, plus further improvements around Worthing, Lancing and Lewes - this will help the A27 link together as a single route, supporting the development of the local economy and removing notorious congestion hotspots .

Uncritical news coverage and local media give the impression of unanimous public support. According to SCATE discussions about alternatives to the new bypass were completely off the agenda during the run-up to the announcement. Subsequently, there’s has been a drought of follow up news reports or debate, the media quickly moving on. I don't remember this being so much the case in the 1990s amid the controversial Twyford Down or the Newbury Bypass. At Twyford Down, near Winchester, the  M3 is now routed through an ugly gash in the Downs, instead of a less visually intrusive but more costly tunnel (unlike on the A3 at Hindhead). Unlike now, road protests were reported widely. The A34 is the link road between Southampton and the M40 / Midland. It now skirts Newbury and slices through the Wessex Downs. Unlocking the A34 there has simply shifted the traffic jams north to Oxford.

Links

South Coast Alliance Transport and the Environment (SCATE)

http://scate.org.uk/

Tony Whitbread, Chief Executive of Sussex Wildlife Trust

http://tonywhitbread.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/money-to-burn-road-building-bonanza.html