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LakelandWebs News Welcome to the new News section on the LakelandWebs. I intend to use this section to report on activities news and events as and when they arise. If you have a Lakes-related news story please email them to us Click here to email your story to us For past news from the WasdaleWeb visit our News Archive section by clicking here 11 December 2009 : sign the petition for a new bridge ! WORKINGTON businesses are demanding a road bridge soon, as trade has slumped in the town by up to 90 per cent. SIGN THE TRADERS' PETITION HERE Traders, in what is the key selling period of the year, say news that a temporary bridge will not be open until early summer and a permanent bridge could take two years could be the final nail in the coffin of Workington’s commercial centre. John Bailey, owner of Derwent Bookshop on “The degree of downturn in economic activity is fatal at a time of year when traders need to be able to operate at their maximum; they are trading between 30 per cent and 90 per cent down. “The viability of Workington, from national chain stores, to local independents, is being destroyed with each day without a vehicle bridge. “All those thousands of residents and visitors who are queuing for hours on the A66 every day won’t need to in the New Year because there won’t be a town left to work in or visit.” Graeme Cameron, owner of Sole It, Lock It on He said: “We need something up or it’s going to kill the town centre. My trade was 66 per cent down the first week and on average it’s about 55 per cent down now. “We are not getting as many customers and that’s the same for everybody. “There were 26,000 vehicles coming into Workington on the two bridges every day. Now there are none. People from Seaton, Northside, Maryport and Flimby aren’t coming in. They’re going the other way, to “Even if a temporary bridge took 15,000 cars a day it would bring them back in. “The train station and the footbridge are helping but it’s a long walk into town. People are always trying to save an extra five minutes. They don’t want to spend an hour or more walking in. “The longer we leave it the more it affects business and the more difficult it is for people to pay their business rates, so it will affect the councils. “If they leave it two years to put the bridge up it’s going to cost more money and they’re going to have to do more to get the town centre back up and running. “Every shopkeeper I have spoken to is affected.” Carol Lister, manager of W Gourlay Perfumery and Gift Shop on Finkle Street, said: “The recession has already affected us quite drastically anyway but this is the final straw.This is our bread and butter, which takes us into the first three months of the next year.” Lynn McCullough, owner of McCulloughs on “We are ticking over but there certainly isn’t the bustle you’d expect this time of yearWe have suffered slightly.” Cumbria County Council leader Jim Buchanan said the authority was doing everything it could to alleviate the pressure on traders and townsfolk and was working round the clock to find a way to reunite the two sides of Workington. Mr Buchanan said plans were being drawn up for a temporary bridge and the council was looking at building a permanent bridge at the same time. Marie Fallon, the council’s environment director, said: “We have the design stage, tendering, letting contracts and then construction. We don’t think two years is unrealistic.” Workington has been divided from Northside since floods last month destroyed Mrs Fallon said engineers have drawn up six options for permanent and temporary road crossings. She added: “We have to go through these with the Department for Transport. We hope to make an announcement in the next couple of weeks about the route and when.” The council aims to replace both the Northside and Workington bridges, although not necessarily on the same sites. Mrs Fallon said: “Rather than rush ahead and replace like for like, we have to take this opportunity to provide the best for Workington for the next 100 years plus.” Once a decision on the permanent crossings is taken, the council can decide where the temporary bridge will go. It will have to be somewhere else so as not to interfere with construction works. Hopes that the Army could throw up a makeshift road crossing in a matter of weeks have been ruled out by engineers on safety grounds. Mr Buchanan said: “We are moving as fast as we can. There is no way that we could move more quickly.” But Mr Bailey said: “The business community knows that remedies have to be put in place without delay. “The council does not operate day-to-day with the same immediate pressures. Their apparent lack of urgency to date can possibly be excused in the light of this. “But no longer. We want to see immediate work on at least one emergency road crossing – don’t call it a temporary crossing, that suggests little urgency and downgrades the importance of the need. “If the council wish to take time out to review the best locations for future bridges, and the most appropriate design, that’s fine but don’t delay on the building of the emergency bridges.” Mrs Fallon said safety had to be first consideration.She added: “We have been consulting engineers, the Army and anyone who could help since the day the bridges were washed away. “The Army, who are experts at this, have told us that the river and its banks are not suitable for a bailey bridge. “Bailey bridges are too close to the water and such a structure would flood with the first rains. “We have also had to consider the condition of the river banks into which the piles are driven for the bridge supports. That is why it has taken this long to build the pedestrian bridge.” Workington MP Tony Cunningham said he was dismayed that it would take until summer for a temporary bridge and called upon the county to look for a speedier solution. Mr Buchanan said: “The best way MPs can help us towards that recovery is by making sure that any red tape for getting money for repairs is kicked out of the way.” The county, he added, had a direct line to the Prime Minister, who said He said he was happy with the help from all Government departments and wanted to ensure that this would continue. Mr Buchanan promised that the extra train services between Maryport and Workington, including the new Workington North station, would continue until the new bridge is built. The county has also said it is working to alleviate congestion in the Papcastle area and on the A66, including creating new lanes or finding alternate routes for motorists. Twelve bridges across Mrs Fallon said that high water levels in the Derwent had hampered efforts to inspect them. “We can’t just put a camera down,” she said. “We have to get divers down to do it.” It is also hoped, with dry weather forecast for the next few days, that the rivers will recede far enough to allow It is estimated that the flood could cost New bridges in Workington will cost several million pounds each. An announcement by the Government yesterday means A county spokesman said: “This is excellent news and will make a difference to how fast we can move.” 11 December 2009 : Flood story A young Sellafield engineer has told how the devastating Cumbrian floods of November 19 wrecked both her home and her cherished collection of celebrity autographs. Claire Jones, 25, now faces rebuilding her home life after the house she was renting in Like other flood victims, Claire was left counting the cost in both personal and financial terms. She says she has been helped enormously by friends and volunteers from the British Red Cross who gave her food – and a shoulder to cry on – during the early days of the crisis. Claire is aware others have suffered dreadfully but her story underlines how the disaster has robbed victims of personal possessions which are beyond price. “My grandfather first got me into Formula 1 and racing cars, and it’s been a passion for me since I was 12,” said Claire, a nuclear design engineer at the Sellafield plant. “I had a collection of autographed books and signed photographs, with signatures from people like Michael Schumacher and the world champion Jenson Button. “But my more recent passion has been for mountaineering. I had books autographed by Doug Scott, Sir Chris Bonington, and explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes. They’re all gone.” On the day of the flood, Claire couldn’t get home in time to save any possessions. She said: “I’d gone to work as normal and left at 1.30pm, but it took two hours to get back to Cockermouth and by then the closest I could get to my street was the Co-Op. Some of Claire’s neighbours were trapped upstairs by the rapidly rising water, making it impossible for them to rescue anything more than her saxophone. She returned to her rented house after the weekend to find it had been under 6ft of water and she had lost everything that was downstairs. She also lost her motorbike. With her family living in Dorset Claire was left relying on the community spirit of She said: “I’ve been in shock, to be honest. It hasn’t hit me properly yet. “The Red Cross volunteers were brilliant, always there when I needed to talk through what had happened – someone I could speak to openly and honestly and they gave me practical advice. “I’ve always been an independent person, so asking and receiving help is new to me but I needed to talk to someone. “They also realised when I needed a hug, which you can’t put a value on.” Claire, who has found new accommodation in Great Broughton, also praised the church volunteers who fed her and other flood victims.
11 Dec 2009 : Train Incident Trains in The east line, which goes to Rail chiefs say they hope to reopen it in about 20 minutes. The West Coast Mainline is running normally. It is understood that a man has fallen from the bridge on Police cars and an ambulance are at the scene. The man is said to be conscious and is being treated by paramedics. A spokesman said they were checking him for spinal and leg injuries. 11 December 2009 : Tragic Death A retired farmer died in a Cumbrian field after being crushed by a tractor driven by a 13-year-old boy. John Armstrong fell backwards out of the tractor’s bucket after it hit a bump in a field at Rabycote Farm, near Kirkbride, on June 6 this year. He fell under the wheels of the Manitou tractor before its teenage driver could stop, an inquest heard. The youngster, who cannot be named for legal reasons, instantly reversed the vehicle but Mr Armstrong suffered multiple head injuries and died where he lay soon afterwards. A They also heard that 60-year-old John Armstrong, who had 40 years of farming experience, had given the boy permission to drive it that day while he rode in the bucket. Mr Armstrong, of Abbey Farm, Abbeytown, was a former first-team rugby player with Wigton and helped out at weekends at Rabycote. The 13-year-old tractor driver regularly helped with milking at the dairy farm for pocket money. When the accident happened, Mr Armstrong and the teenager were going to assist 22-year-old farmworker Laura Graham with a calving cow that was in difficulty. She said the bucket was about two foot off the ground and added: “John was holding onto the back of the bucket with both hands. “It seemed to bounce and John bounced once and the second time looked as if he hit his bottom on the rear of the bucket and the next thing I just saw his legs as he went over backwards.” Children as young as 13 can work part-time on farms under a Cumbria County Council bylaw. A code of practice states that they can use simple tractors but not lifting equipment like a Manitou. Mr Armstrong suffered from heart disease and diabetes but The jury recorded a verdict of accidental death. 26 August 2009 Wasdale MRT teddies ! For more info please click here 26 August 2009 : Heavy Rain leads to flood warnings Fourteen Flood Watches - the Environment Agency's lowest level of alert - have been imposed on rivers including the Kent, Eden and Cocker. The Met Office has also warned of possible flash flooding, mainly on higher ground, and south and west-facing slopes. Drivers across the county are being urged to take extra care on the roads. Heavy rain in west Cumbria earlier this week prompted flood alerts on several rivers, but they were later given the all clear.
26 August 2009 : New rail link for Cumbria Network Rail has proposed a new £34bn ($55bn) high-speed railway line linking Scotland and London by 2030. The line would serve Birmingham and Manchester, getting passengers from Glasgow to London in just two hours and 16 minutes, the rail firm said. It rejected several alternative routes, including the east of England. The government said assessments of the costs and environmental issues involved needed to be carried out before it could approve any plans. It is currently conducting its own rail network review and said it hoped to be in a position to make a decision next year. If given the go-ahead, Network Rail said it would take up to five years to decide on the exact route and complete the planning stages. It wants the first section of the line between London and Birmingham to be completed by 2020. The line would become the country's second high-speed rail link after the line that runs from London St Pancras to the Channel Tunnel, run by the Eurostar service and connecting to high-speed lines in continental Europe. Network Rail's proposed new line linking Glasgow and Edinburgh with London, on which trains could travel as fast as 200mph, would also serve Manchester, Liverpool, Preston and Birmingham. A spokesman for one of Manchester's biggest employers, Kellog's cereals, said: "This is great news for business in Manchester, just as London is going to be more accessible for us, Manchester will be for those in the South East." The new line would cut the journey between London and Birmingham to 45 minutes, from a best time of one hour and 22 minutes currently. Rail passengers would also be able to get to Liverpool in one hour and 23 minutes, from two hours and eight minutes now. Network Rail, the company that runs Britain's rail infrastructure, said the new line would require more than 1,500 miles of rail, sleepers and ballast, as well as 138 bridges over roads and current railway lines. Network Rail says the new line is required to ease the pressure on Britain's railways. It says passenger numbers have rocketed by 40% over the past decade, and that by 2024, many existing lines will be at full capacity. Transport Secretary Lord Adonis told the BBC that high-speed links were vital for the future. "This report makes a powerful case for high-speed rail in Britain," he said. Lord Adonis said the company set up by the government to prepare a high-speed rail plan would take "full account" of the proposals and deliver a report by the end of the year, with a decision by next year. Currently, the route proposal will be between London and the West Midlands, with options to extend the line to Scotland and the north of England. |