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Latest deadline for Cambridgeshire Guided Bus missed again

Chairman's statement responding to latest delay

Date Issued: Monday 16th November 2009

It has been confirmed by Cllr Roy Pegram of Cambridgeshire County Council that the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway northern section will not open on 29th November. No one at the council is prepared to say it will open before 2010.

Tim Phillips of CAST.IRON made this comment:

"The Cambridgeshire Guided Bus scheme is nothing short of a national disgrace. Indeed it is a farce and everything CAST.IRON has said about it since 2003 - including at the 'independent public inquiry' - is turning out to be true.

I call for a public apology from Cllr Roy Pegram followed by his immediate resignation. I also hold Cllrs Reynolds, Johnstone and Macguire, ex-Cllr Bradney and other County Council members and officers personally responsible for the cost of the scheme, compensation due for disruption during construction and added costs due to the delay in opening.

They are also responsible for the loss of revenue suffered by Stagecoach and Whippet - revenue which these people promised, in public - and for the interest costs accruing on Stagecoach's fleet of brand new buses, which will be nearly a year old by the time they are able to use the guideway.

And I hope national and local government will at last learn this: at a public inquiry, objectors don't object for fun. They have valid and well-considered arguments to present and just because a promoter has 2 million to spend on city barristers to present their own case doesn't mean they are right."