Westminster Diary - 4th January 2007

Thursday, 4th January 2007

Some Rugby families will begin 2007 with uncertainty – families who have lost an income due to the closure of the Peugeot Plant at Ryton. The ending of production at Ryton will remain one of the defining features of 2006 because it changes not just the lives of the workforce but also the future of that part of Rugby Borough. The plant site covered 163 acres – land for which a new purpose must now be found. We must hope that new purpose brings employment and do all we can to achieve that goal.

I am hopeful too that 2007 will be the year in which other significant changes begin in the town. I want to highlight a few of them. All major building and regeneration projects come with problems, as we are seeing with the proposed cattle market re-development; but some are already underway. Regular users of the railway station will be aware of the improvements being made to the building and tracks – now we just have to ensure trains will stop at the new platforms to take us where we want to go. Work should begin soon on a new home for Warwickshire College in Rugby – a facility we can all use to learn and of which we can all be proud.

A new hotel may begin to take shape in the centre of the town, providing conference facilities and accommodation for the visitors we hope to attract. Let us hope too that before too long they will be able to see a ‘World of Rugby’ attraction while they are here in the birthplace of the game. Crucially in my view, we can now expect work to begin in 2007 on the long, long awaited Western Relief Road. I am sometimes asked why this road is so important to Rugby. The answer is all too evident in the town centre and around the Gyratory at busy times of the day – too much traffic – much of it heavy commercial vehicles – moving slowly through heavily built-up areas. This is not just delaying our journeys, it is damaging our health. The pollution from these vehicles is as great a threat to our air quality as anything else in Rugby. So the start of the Western Relief Road will be good news to us all and when it is finished, the road will make a big contribution to a better Rugby for residents and others. We can all look forward to that

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Updated on Thursday, 4th January 2007