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Ferries could add 2,000 cars to Forest roads
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| A Wightlink ferry leaving Lymington. |
HAMPSHIRE transport chiefs are studying
claims that new cross-Solent ferries could
add more than 2,000 cars a day to New
Forest roads.
The 1,496-ton vessels are larger than
the 30-year-old ferries that currently operate
on the busy Lymington-Yarmouth
route.
The Lymington River Association says
the craft will be able to carry an extra 30
cars per sailing - twice the figure quoted
by Wightlink.
They fear that thousands of additional
cars will clog Forest roads at the height of
summer. Association members have written
to Hampshire County Council as part
of their campaign against the new vessels,
due to enter service later this year.
They also want New Forest District
Council and the New Forest National Park
Authority to take a fresh look at the traffic
levels likely to be generated.
The new ferries have been a major
source of controversy since Wightlink
unveiled plans to replace the existing vessels
on the Lymington-Yarmouth route.
Critics claim the 1,496-ton boats will
damage environmentally sensitive parts of
the Lymington River.
Fears about the prospect of extra traffic
in the area were raised by Col Peter
Sweet at the March meeting of the
National Park Authority.
A Wightlink spokesman was unavailable
to comment on the claims.
Previously Wightlink representatives
have said the vessels would carry 600,000
vehicles a year only if every sailing was
fully booked.
9:00am Sunday 11th May 2008
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CommentPosted by: gorf, soton on 10:35am Sun 11 May 08
the forest's roads are chocker already!
why not just get the ferry to southampton or portsmouth where there is direct dual carrage ways / motorways etc?
the forest's roads are chocker already!
why not just get the ferry to southampton or portsmouth where there is direct dual carrage ways / motorways etc?
Posted by: Andy, Locks Heath on 11:06am Sun 11 May 08
This is called scope creep. It is a tactic of deliberately opening up several lines of attack in order that at least one will succeed or that in the melee and confusion the facts of the underlying issue can be ignored. The LRA are an unelected unpreresentative, self serving body whose quest to drive out a business that existed centuries before the idea of "leisure sailing" is purely for their own convenience and profit. Not for Lymington, not for its people and not for the town's business. It is vital that Lymingtonians fight this nonsense or the town will become trapped in a chocolate box hell, preserved by those who only come at weekends and like the entire town to be run entirely for their benefit. As for Gorf's comment, the roads on the Island are even worse than the Forest. So if you are holidaying in West Wight do you really think shifting the problem over to where you can't see it is beneficial? What percentage of Forest traffic (say) through Lyndhurst is destined for the ferry? 1%? 2%? Makes you think this is probably a larger issue that the LRA are just trying to hitch onto. Fight them.
This is called scope creep. It is a tactic of deliberately opening up several lines of attack in order that at least one will succeed or that in the melee and confusion the facts of the underlying issue can be ignored. The LRA are an unelected unpreresentative, self serving body whose quest to drive out a business that existed centuries before the idea of "leisure sailing" is purely for their own convenience and profit. Not for Lymington, not for its people and not for the town's business. It is vital that Lymingtonians fight this nonsense or the town will become trapped in a chocolate box hell, preserved by those who only come at weekends and like the entire town to be run entirely for their benefit. As for Gorf's comment, the roads on the Island are even worse than the Forest. So if you are holidaying in West Wight do you really think shifting the problem over to where you can't see it is beneficial? What percentage of Forest traffic (say) through Lyndhurst is destined for the ferry? 1%? 2%? Makes you think this is probably a larger issue that the LRA are just trying to hitch onto. Fight them.
Posted by: Derek, Dibden Purlieu on 2:23pm Sun 11 May 08
[quote]Col Peter Sweet[/quote]
A dear old chap who objects to everything and anything that stops the New Forest advancing from the 1950s.
Col Peter Sweet
A dear old chap who objects to everything and anything that stops the New Forest advancing from the 1950s.
Posted by: Crust ofSouthampton, Southampton on 3:59pm Sun 11 May 08
Are there that number of cars on the Isle of wight?
Are there that number of cars on the Isle of wight?
Posted by: Tony, Sholing on 4:21pm Sun 11 May 08
Last thing i heard the I.W. authorities were worried about the drop in tourism. Tourism is a double edged sword that is necessary to the island's economy. Personally i love the island, it feels so different from the mainland just a few miles away. It's almost like stepping back into the sixties. My grandparents used to live in Gurnard and it hasn't changed that much in 40 odd years and long may it stay that way! [italic]italic[/italic]
Last thing i heard the I.W. authorities were worried about the drop in tourism. Tourism is a double edged sword that is necessary to the island's economy. Personally i love the island, it feels so different from the mainland just a few miles away. It's almost like stepping back into the sixties. My grandparents used to live in Gurnard and it hasn't changed that much in 40 odd years and long may it stay that way!
Posted by: Andy, Locks Heath on 7:24pm Sun 11 May 08
This outfit purporting to represent the River interests have now elected themselves to represent the interests of the rest of the Forest as well. How kind of them to raise as an issue the greatest advantage Lymington has over rival crossings! Has Colonel Sweet investigated getting to the Red Funnel terminal on a summer Saturday?(Gridlock at Town Quay) Ditto Wightlink at Gunwharf, (gridlock from the end of the M275 past Unicorn Gate all the way to the port). Of course on the island itself Newport is then a nightmare for anyone seeking to get to West Wight from either Wootton or East COwes. The Walhampton terminal has massive advantages over both Town Quay and Camber dock, if only that idiot Peter Sweet had paused to do his research before raising this as an issue. I hope any councillors reading this will indeed take congestion and access into account, and recognise the LRA for the bumptious self serving idiocracy that it is. I hope Lymingtonians don't surrender what's left of their town and High Street to marine boutiques, yacht jumble and "Yachtman's platters" (like a ploughmans but at a price only Londoners can afford - very metaphoric!). I was born and raised in Lymington at a time when MVs Farringford, Freshwater and Lymington created more wash each than Cenwulf and Cenred combined. Size is not everything!
This outfit purporting to represent the River interests have now elected themselves to represent the interests of the rest of the Forest as well. How kind of them to raise as an issue the greatest advantage Lymington has over rival crossings! Has Colonel Sweet investigated getting to the Red Funnel terminal on a summer Saturday?(Gridlock at Town Quay) Ditto Wightlink at Gunwharf, (gridlock from the end of the M275 past Unicorn Gate all the way to the port). Of course on the island itself Newport is then a nightmare for anyone seeking to get to West Wight from either Wootton or East COwes. The Walhampton terminal has massive advantages over both Town Quay and Camber dock, if only that idiot Peter Sweet had paused to do his research before raising this as an issue. I hope any councillors reading this will indeed take congestion and access into account, and recognise the LRA for the bumptious self serving idiocracy that it is. I hope Lymingtonians don't surrender what's left of their town and High Street to marine boutiques, yacht jumble and "Yachtman's platters" (like a ploughmans but at a price only Londoners can afford - very metaphoric!). I was born and raised in Lymington at a time when MVs Farringford, Freshwater and Lymington created more wash each than Cenwulf and Cenred combined. Size is not everything!
Posted by: Dan Gleeballs, southampton on 11:45pm Sun 11 May 08
[quote][bold]gorf[/bold] wrote:
the forest's roads are chocker already! why not just get the ferry to southampton or portsmouth where there is direct dual carrage ways / motorways etc? [/quote] have you ever got the ferry from southampton or portsmouth? you have to queue along mountbatton way then past the speed camera's and along west quay rd. this willonly get worse once ikea appears. portsmouth is not much better.
lymington serves a purpose for people from the west and is a much nicer start to a holiday than either of the other crossings.
gorf wrote:
the forest's roads are chocker already! why not just get the ferry to southampton or portsmouth where there is direct dual carrage ways / motorways etc?
have you ever got the ferry from southampton or portsmouth? you have to queue along mountbatton way then past the speed camera's and along west quay rd. this willonly get worse once ikea appears. portsmouth is not much better.
lymington serves a purpose for people from the west and is a much nicer start to a holiday than either of the other crossings.
Posted by: John Prescott, chucking up in the loos on 9:41pm Mon 12 May 08
Great - can we have a duel carriage way from Lymington to the M27, bypassing Lyndhurst, now then please ?
Great - can we have a duel carriage way from Lymington to the M27, bypassing Lyndhurst, now then please ?
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