Why so high?

[aeropilot]

SRT Hellcat said:

aeropilot said:

ratrod 2 said:

I was up on the M3 and they closed 2 of the 4 lanes off for 15 miles or so

right up to the M25 exit , not a worker in sight just rows ans rows of bollards with one hole dug right by the M25 exit , Why ,Why ,Why , 15 miles of

bollards 2 lanes closed off ,50 mph speed for one unmaned hole on the major London motorway ,

That's to add in the extra safety layby's that they should have put in when they made it a smart motorway, and decided to omit, and they are now being forced to put in......
They are also doing to around much of the M25 as well, and all along the newly created smart section of the M4 from J12 to M25......

yep. Between the A1 junction 23 and the M11 junction 27 new laybys being added. 50mph average speed cameras in both directions. Best of all very little seems to be going on and will take a year.

Yes, came across that a few weeks ago when going to Southend on the Friday of the bank holiday weekend......took about 40 mins to get from J22 to J27.....and was a bloody nightmare trying to get back to Wokingham from Southend on Friday eve with all the bank holiday get-away traffic....
M25 going anti-clockwise was show dark red all way from J28 to J12......and Thames crossing was at a standstill going south over QE bridge, and M25 and all approaches to M25 around J29/30 were at a standstill.
Ended up going in on A13 and around A406.....only took just under 4 hrs to get home

[roscobbc]

Most people are totally unaware of the legalities that enable local and national authorities to impliment major changes to our roads and transport networks.
When the London congestion change was first publicised in the early 2000's I had a small office close to Canary Wharf at Blackwall Basin which came under the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At that time the London local authorities 'affected' by the planned introduction of the congestion charge all held consultation meetings for local residents and businesses to come and understand the major changes planned for the future of vehicles travelling into central London. Residents and businesses alike were encouraged to make their thoughts about the plans known and perhaps object and/or propose alternative ideas/plans. I remember meeting one of the 'specialist' transport advisors employed (a Professor David Begg) to bring the plan in to action and quickly realised that this was already very much a 'done deal'. Quite simply a local or national authority has a legal obligation to hold local meetings, workshops etc to allow local residents and businesses to 'air' their views about proposals planned. People will presume they acually have a 'say' and can change the plans.......wrong.......very wrong. That 'legal obligation' is only to allow people to make comment about the planned changes.......in a 'nutshell' there is no legal requirement for said authority to 'listen to' and impliment any objections or alternative plans from other parties. Legally the authority can effectively bulldoze its way ahead and (as often seems to happen) and totally ignore even overwhelming numbers of objections to proposals and plans. And I give you HS2 as a shining example of gross financial waste and mismanagement - and now we have Rwanda as another shining beacon of gross finanical ineptitude......
And we wonder why we live in such a F'ed-up country............

[roscobbc]

aeropilot said:

Yes, came across that a few weeks ago when going to Southend on the Friday of the bank holiday weekend......took about 40 mins to get from J22 to J27.....and was a bloody nightmare trying to get back to Wokingham from Southend on Friday eve with all the bank holiday get-away traffic....
M25 going anti-clockwise was show dark red all way from J28 to J12......and Thames crossing was at a standstill going south over QE bridge, and M25 and all approaches to M25 around J29/30 were at a standstill.
Ended up going in on A13 and around A406.....only took just under 4 hrs to get home

That has been the scenario on every bank holiday (and often the day before and day after) and its getting worse over the years......on a daily basis the A13/Dartford Crossing/M25 South/M25 North will have at the very least some form of minor accident and delay once over the course of the day, and usually several times dail in multiple locations.
Even though I'm only 5/10 minutes away from the M25 (on a good day) and 10/15 minutes from the Dartford Crossing using the local 'lanes' I actively avoid using it and the QE2 crossing and will always look for alternative routes or simply just don't make the trip!

[SRT Hellcat]

roscobbc said:

Most people are totally unaware of the legalities that enable local and national authorities to impliment major changes to our roads and transport networks.
When the London congestion change was first publicised in the early 2000's I had a small office close to Canary Wharf at Blackwall Basin which came under the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At that time the London local authorities 'affected' by the planned introduction of the congestion charge all held consultation meetings for local residents and businesses to come and understand the major changes planned for the future of vehicles travelling into central London. Residents and businesses alike were encouraged to make their thoughts about the plans known and perhaps object and/or propose alternative ideas/plans. I remember meeting one of the 'specialist' transport advisors employed (a Professor David Begg) to bring the plan in to action and quickly realised that this was already very much a 'done deal'. Quite simply a local or national authority has a legal obligation to hold local meetings, workshops etc to allow local residents and businesses to 'air' their views about proposals planned. People will presume they acually have a 'say' and can change the plans.......wrong.......very wrong. That 'legal obligation' is only to allow people to make comment about the planned changes.......in a 'nutshell' there is no legal requirement for said authority to 'listen to' and impliment any objections or alternative plans from other parties. Legally the authority can effectively bulldoze its way ahead and (as often seems to happen) and totally ignore even overwhelming numbers of objections to proposals and plans. And I give you HS2 as a shining example of gross financial waste and mismanagement - and now we have Rwanda as another shining beacon of gross finanical ineptitude......
And we wonder why we live in such a F'ed-up country............

and if you remember back as I used to deliver and collect in London. Under Ken Livingstone they deliberately screwed up the traffic light phasing to make their point about to much congestion which they caused. Unbelievable

[roscobbc]

SRT Hellcat said:

roscobbc said:

Most people are totally unaware of the legalities that enable local and national authorities to impliment major changes to our roads and transport networks.
When the London congestion change was first publicised in the early 2000's I had a small office close to Canary Wharf at Blackwall Basin which came under the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At that time the London local authorities 'affected' by the planned introduction of the congestion charge all held consultation meetings for local residents and businesses to come and understand the major changes planned for the future of vehicles travelling into central London. Residents and businesses alike were encouraged to make their thoughts about the plans known and perhaps object and/or propose alternative ideas/plans. I remember meeting one of the 'specialist' transport advisors employed (a Professor David Begg) to bring the plan in to action and quickly realised that this was already very much a 'done deal'. Quite simply a local or national authority has a legal obligation to hold local meetings, workshops etc to allow local residents and businesses to 'air' their views about proposals planned. People will presume they acually have a 'say' and can change the plans.......wrong.......very wrong. That 'legal obligation' is only to allow people to make comment about the planned changes.......in a 'nutshell' there is no legal requirement for said authority to 'listen to' and impliment any objections or alternative plans from other parties. Legally the authority can effectively bulldoze its way ahead and (as often seems to happen) and totally ignore even overwhelming numbers of objections to proposals and plans. And I give you HS2 as a shining example of gross financial waste and mismanagement - and now we have Rwanda as another shining beacon of gross finanical ineptitude......
And we wonder why we live in such a F'ed-up country............

and if you remember back as I used to deliver and collect in London. Under Ken Livingstone they deliberately screwed up the traffic light phasing to make their point about to much congestion which they caused. Unbelievable

Let me comment on how 'wonderful' it was to drive in central London when the initial congestion charge was introduced...........it was great, minimal traffic, minimal pollution..........except for the areas on the fringe of the zone where everyone was diverting by.........that peace only lasted for 6 months..........then everyone chose to pay the charge and before long traffic etc was much like before the zone was introduced...............and then we have the 24/7 bus routes that don't have 24/7 buses running........and the bike lanes where much oif the time you rarely see a bicycle using them.........and then we have the Uber cabs..........and the Rickshaws...........grrrrrrrr!

[newsatten]

roscobbc said:

Let me comment on how 'wonderful' it was to drive in central London when the initial congestion charge was introduced...........it was great, minimal traffic, minimal pollution..........except for the areas on the fringe of the zone where everyone was diverting by.........that peace only lasted for 6 months..........then everyone chose to pay the charge and before long traffic etc was much like before the zone was introduced...............and then we have the 24/7 bus routes that don't have 24/7 buses running........and the bike lanes where much oif the time you rarely see a bicycle using them.........and then we have the Uber cabs..........and the Rickshaws...........grrrrrrrr!

Talking of congestion the powers that be closed the main arterial dual carriage way between the M2 and Thanet today and diverted it’s entire content on to a two lane black top which runs pass my estate!
Nose to tail for 7 miles in both directions

Took me 30 minutes to do a 5 minute journey this morning and a hour to get home
All part of the joy of living in the ahole of the Uk

[-Cappo-]

roscobbc said:

Most people are totally unaware of the legalities that enable local and national authorities to impliment major changes to our roads and transport networks.
When the London congestion change was first publicised in the early 2000's I had a small office close to Canary Wharf at Blackwall Basin which came under the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At that time the London local authorities 'affected' by the planned introduction of the congestion charge all held consultation meetings for local residents and businesses to come and understand the major changes planned for the future of vehicles travelling into central London. Residents and businesses alike were encouraged to make their thoughts about the plans known and perhaps object and/or propose alternative ideas/plans. I remember meeting one of the 'specialist' transport advisors employed (a Professor David Begg) to bring the plan in to action and quickly realised that this was already very much a 'done deal'. Quite simply a local or national authority has a legal obligation to hold local meetings, workshops etc to allow local residents and businesses to 'air' their views about proposals planned. People will presume they acually have a 'say' and can change the plans.......wrong.......very wrong. That 'legal obligation' is only to allow people to make comment about the planned changes.......in a 'nutshell' there is no legal requirement for said authority to 'listen to' and impliment any objections or alternative plans from other parties. Legally the authority can effectively bulldoze its way ahead and (as often seems to happen) and totally ignore even overwhelming numbers of objections to proposals and plans. And I give you HS2 as a shining example of gross financial waste and mismanagement - and now we have Rwanda as another shining beacon of gross finanical ineptitude......
And we wonder why we live in such a F'ed-up country............

I may be wrong but I'm firmly of the view, based on what I've seen myself, that the "consultation" thing is some sort of bureaucratic box-ticking exercise which someone, somewhere has decreed has to happen, but in practice the decisions are always made completely independent of any so-called consultation and the opinions from that are never taken into account.

Your example above is one. Others which immediately spring to mind:

- ULEZ
- Motorbike parking in Hackney. Used to be free, they held a "consultation", it's now prohibitively expensive to the point where nobody would consider commuting by bike (I used to, every day, rain or shine). Bear in mind that Hackney council covers a large part of the northern area of the City, so it's mostly commuters working in businesses who are affected.
- Multiple housing developments. "Do you think we should build here?" "No, No, No. No!" "Well fk you, we're going to anyway"
- And on a local note: Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council, the most abjectly useless local government institution ever created, recently published a consultation on levying parking charges in West Malling, a small market town, and a few other local shopping areas. The objections were unanimous, and widespread, from consumers to business owners. Guess what....

Responding to "consultations" is like shouting at the moon.

[roscobbc]

-Cappo- said:

roscobbc said:

Most people are totally unaware of the legalities that enable local and national authorities to impliment major changes to our roads and transport networks.
When the London congestion change was first publicised in the early 2000's I had a small office close to Canary Wharf at Blackwall Basin which came under the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At that time the London local authorities 'affected' by the planned introduction of the congestion charge all held consultation meetings for local residents and businesses to come and understand the major changes planned for the future of vehicles travelling into central London. Residents and businesses alike were encouraged to make their thoughts about the plans known and perhaps object and/or propose alternative ideas/plans. I remember meeting one of the 'specialist' transport advisors employed (a Professor David Begg) to bring the plan in to action and quickly realised that this was already very much a 'done deal'. Quite simply a local or national authority has a legal obligation to hold local meetings, workshops etc to allow local residents and businesses to 'air' their views about proposals planned. People will presume they acually have a 'say' and can change the plans.......wrong.......very wrong. That 'legal obligation' is only to allow people to make comment about the planned changes.......in a 'nutshell' there is no legal requirement for said authority to 'listen to' and impliment any objections or alternative plans from other parties. Legally the authority can effectively bulldoze its way ahead and (as often seems to happen) and totally ignore even overwhelming numbers of objections to proposals and plans. And I give you HS2 as a shining example of gross financial waste and mismanagement - and now we have Rwanda as another shining beacon of gross finanical ineptitude......
And we wonder why we live in such a F'ed-up country............

I may be wrong but I'm firmly of the view, based on what I've seen myself, that the "consultation" thing is some sort of bureaucratic box-ticking exercise which someone, somewhere has decreed has to happen, but in practice the decisions are always made completely independent of any so-called consultation and the opinions from that are never taken into account.

Your example above is one. Others which immediately spring to mind:

- ULEZ
- Motorbike parking in Hackney. Used to be free, they held a "consultation", it's now prohibitively expensive to the point where nobody would consider commuting by bike (I used to, every day, rain or shine). Bear in mind that Hackney council covers a large part of the northern area of the City, so it's mostly commuters working in businesses who are affected.
- Multiple housing developments. "Do you think we should build here?" "No, No, No. No!" "Well fk you, we're going to anyway"
- And on a local note: Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council, the most abjectly useless local government institution ever created, recently published a consultation on levying parking charges in West Malling, a small market town, and a few other local shopping areas. The objections were unanimous, and widespread, from consumers to business owners. Guess what....

Responding to "consultations" is like shouting at the moon.

A fair number of these local authorities, certainly the London ones Labour loving ones like Hackney, Islington, Camden and others have been 'populated' by left wingers initially Livingstone supporting and now Khan 'siding' anti-car, anti everything councillors. We've seen a Tower Hamlets council leader and probably others get discredited for dubious dealings......the presumably hard core Tory authorities like Westminster are 'headaches' to vehicle users in different ways.

[aeropilot]

-Cappo- said:

I may be wrong but I'm firmly of the view, based on what I've seen myself, that the "consultation" thing is some sort of bureaucratic box-ticking exercise which someone, somewhere has decreed has to happen, but in practice the decisions are always made completely independent of any so-called consultation and the opinions from that are never taken into account.

and......


Responding to "consultations" is like shouting at the moon.

Very much so.

Everything is agreed up front before any consultation takes place, as said pure tick box exercise to justify 'democracy' working, especially the wording of any questions that are part of a survey for said consultation.....all weighted to steer the answer in the direction wanted.

[roscobbc]

aeropilot said:

-Cappo- said:

I may be wrong but I'm firmly of the view, based on what I've seen myself, that the "consultation" thing is some sort of bureaucratic box-ticking exercise which someone, somewhere has decreed has to happen, but in practice the decisions are always made completely independent of any so-called consultation and the opinions from that are never taken into account.

and......


Responding to "consultations" is like shouting at the moon.

Very much so.

Everything is agreed up front before any consultation takes place, as said pure tick box exercise to justify 'democracy' working, especially the wording of any questions that are part of a survey for said consultation.....all weighted to steer the answer in the direction wanted.

In my experience some of the traffic related changes like 24/7 bus lanes (that don't run all day/night buses), the removal and narrowing of carriageways, 'rat runs, blanket 20 mph speed limits and '15 minute cities' are so obviously going to create more vehicular pollution (even if most of vehicles in area where these schemes operating are now low emission Euro 6 compliant) that I would go as far as saying that it very much a long term plan for these 'lefty', anti-car and population control authorites who are forcing these schemes through to be able to ultimately say "we told you so" and "all cars are bad for the environment"...........very conveniently forgetting the very road schemes they have forced on to us over the last 20 years have often created more localised pollution than before due to the far higher numbers of vehicles 'funnelled' into ever decreasing road spaces. Watch-out electric car users.......they'll be coming for you soon........they'll cite the increased particulant emissions from the tyres and braking systems of your heavier electric vehicles..........

[yzr500]

roscobbc said:

A fair number of these local authorities, certainly the London ones Labour loving ones like Hackney, Islington, Camden and others have been 'populated' by left wingers initially Livingstone supporting and now Khan 'siding' anti-car, anti everything councillors. We've seen a Tower Hamlets council leader and probably others get discredited for dubious dealings......the presumably hard core Tory authorities like Westminster are 'headaches' to vehicle users in different ways.

Couple of weeks ago noticed FORD were the main sponsers of London Bike Week !!!! sucking up the push bikers and the Mayor.

[roscobbc]

yzr500 said:

roscobbc said:

A fair number of these local authorities, certainly the London ones Labour loving ones like Hackney, Islington, Camden and others have been 'populated' by left wingers initially Livingstone supporting and now Khan 'siding' anti-car, anti everything councillors. We've seen a Tower Hamlets council leader and probably others get discredited for dubious dealings......the presumably hard core Tory authorities like Westminster are 'headaches' to vehicle users in different ways.

Couple of weeks ago noticed FORD were the main sponsers of London Bike Week !!!! sucking up the push bikers and the Mayor.

Ford.......think about them as a one time major local employer.......when they 'upped sticks' and moved down to the then 'green field' site on the Thames at Dagenham from Old Trafford in the early 30's quite a few Manchester residents re-located close to the works (my paternal grandfather was one of them) and became THE place to work in the area with a good wage structure. Right up to the 70's everyone in a 20 mile or more radius knew someone or had a family member working there. Now more or less no one. Think how large the site in Dagenham is.......and the constant search for housing sites......the value of their land at Dagenham......the value of the land if 'sold-off' and invested wisely over a number of years would most likely produce far better returns for Ford than currently manufacturing/assembling cars and trucks......and no employees other than perhaps a few land agents!

[aeropilot]

roscobbc said:

Ford.......think about them as a one time major local employer.......when they 'upped sticks' and moved down to the then 'green field' site on the Thames at Dagenham from Old Trafford in the early 30's quite a few Manchester residents re-located close to the works (my paternal grandfather was one of them) and became THE place to work in the area with a good wage structure. Right up to the 70's everyone in a 20 mile or more radius knew someone or had a family member working there. Now more or less no one. Think how large the site in Dagenham is.......and the constant search for housing sites......the value of their land at Dagenham......the value of the land if 'sold-off' and invested wisely over a number of years would most likely produce far better returns for Ford than currently manufacturing/assembling cars and trucks......and no employees other than perhaps a few land agents!

You've not been down along the A13 for a while then I take it....?

When I was forced to come home from Southend a few weeks ago along the A13 to pick up the A406, it was first time for maybe 10+ years that I'd been out along that new part of the A13 they built through the old Ford site......and so I was a little shocked to see just about all of the old Ford site south of the old Ripple Rd and the new elevated A13 has now been demolished and quite a number of new 15+ story resi tower blocks and low level housing are now being built on the site.

[roscobbc]

aeropilot said:

roscobbc said:

Ford.......think about them as a one time major local employer.......when they 'upped sticks' and moved down to the then 'green field' site on the Thames at Dagenham from Old Trafford in the early 30's quite a few Manchester residents re-located close to the works (my paternal grandfather was one of them) and became THE place to work in the area with a good wage structure. Right up to the 70's everyone in a 20 mile or more radius knew someone or had a family member working there. Now more or less no one. Think how large the site in Dagenham is.......and the constant search for housing sites......the value of their land at Dagenham......the value of the land if 'sold-off' and invested wisely over a number of years would most likely produce far better returns for Ford than currently manufacturing/assembling cars and trucks......and no employees other than perhaps a few land agents!

You've not been down along the A13 for a while then I take it....?

When I was forced to come home from Southend a few weeks ago along the A13 to pick up the A406, it was first time for maybe 10+ years that I'd been out along that new part of the A13 they built through the old Ford site......and so I was a little shocked to see just about all of the old Ford site south of the old Ripple Rd and the new elevated A13 has now been demolished and quite a number of new 15+ story resi tower blocks and low level housing are now being built on the site.

Yes, that's the Beam estate......and just a miniscule area out of the total 'brownfield' land in the area (not even sure that was originally Ford occupied)..... yes that was sold-off for development some time back......but there is also the land further south of the 'new' A13 leading down to the river......ok much of it marshland and stretching quite a way east and west......but most of the Ford buildings are likely unused now with only skeleton and admin staff present.

[aeropilot]

roscobbc said:

aeropilot said:

roscobbc said:

Ford.......think about them as a one time major local employer.......when they 'upped sticks' and moved down to the then 'green field' site on the Thames at Dagenham from Old Trafford in the early 30's quite a few Manchester residents re-located close to the works (my paternal grandfather was one of them) and became THE place to work in the area with a good wage structure. Right up to the 70's everyone in a 20 mile or more radius knew someone or had a family member working there. Now more or less no one. Think how large the site in Dagenham is.......and the constant search for housing sites......the value of their land at Dagenham......the value of the land if 'sold-off' and invested wisely over a number of years would most likely produce far better returns for Ford than currently manufacturing/assembling cars and trucks......and no employees other than perhaps a few land agents!

You've not been down along the A13 for a while then I take it....?

When I was forced to come home from Southend a few weeks ago along the A13 to pick up the A406, it was first time for maybe 10+ years that I'd been out along that new part of the A13 they built through the old Ford site......and so I was a little shocked to see just about all of the old Ford site south of the old Ripple Rd and the new elevated A13 has now been demolished and quite a number of new 15+ story resi tower blocks and low level housing are now being built on the site.

Yes, that's the Beam estate......and just a miniscule area out of the total 'brownfield' land in the area (not even sure that was originally Ford occupied)..... yes that was sold-off for development some time back......but there is also the land further south of the 'new' A13 leading down to the river......ok much of it marshland and stretching quite a way east and west......but most of the Ford buildings are likely unused now with only skeleton and admin staff present.

The area between the old Ripple Rd and the 'new' A13 bypass was all the panel stamping plant area, which stopped being used in around 2012/3 fro memory, which was around the last time I drove down there. This was likely as a result of Ford putting all the old Fiesta panels onto NLA which they had continued to stamp for spares supply etc for the 10 years after Ford stopped Fiesta production on the site in 2002, as they re-tooled the Spanish Fiesta plant for the new version.
The original riverside site is still currently the main Ford diesel engine producing plant for Europe, BUT......with the drive to EV, and Ford seemingly dropping ICE pdq, I can't see the Dagenham engine plant, and therefore the rest of the site continuing past the end of this decade.

[ratrod 2]

Transits were made in Southampton since the year dot and as already been mentioned local family's have been connected with the making of them,

Where once new Transits were being driven on the awaiting ships in Southampton docks to be exported all over the world just a few miles from where

they were built my nipper is now driving them off the ships as they arrive in Southampton from Turkey where they are now built ,

The factory now demolished is a huge site worth billion's .

[newsatten]

[quote=ratrod 2]Transits were made in Southampton since the year dot and as already been mentioned local family's have been connected with the making of them,

Where once new Transits were being driven on the awaiting ships in Southampton docks to be exported all over the world just a few miles from where

they were built my nipper is now driving them off the ships as they arrive in Southampton from Turkey where they are now built ,

The factory now demolished is a huge site worth billion's .


Talking of Trannys
My next job!

[aeropilot]

newsatten said:

Talking of Trannys
My next job!

Aahhh....the armoury and re-loading bench

[newsatten]

Haha
Yes the shooting has been eclipsed at this time !
Must get my ares in gear and get back on the range!
It’s been quite hectic the last couple of months
What with the new daily and the dramas trying to get the TA paper work sorted,
Still waiting on DVLA to reply ,
But hopefully that should be soon now,

Got a clay shoot this weekend and next,
And a 600 at Hythe on the 29th, so I’ll give the Alpine a run out,

[roscobbc]

aeropilot said:

The area between the old Ripple Rd and the 'new' A13 bypass was all the panel stamping plant area, which stopped being used in around 2012/3 fro memory, which was around the last time I drove down there. This was likely as a result of Ford putting all the old Fiesta panels onto NLA which they had continued to stamp for spares supply etc for the 10 years after Ford stopped Fiesta production on the site in 2002, as they re-tooled the Spanish Fiesta plant for the new version.
The original riverside site is still currently the main Ford diesel engine producing plant for Europe, BUT......with the drive to EV, and Ford seemingly dropping ICE pdq, I can't see the Dagenham engine plant, and therefore the rest of the site continuing past the end of this decade.

Know a few people working for or connected with FoMoCo locally, most are long served staff are all in semi-limbo knowing what will happen ultimately but hoping for redundancy packages.......especially those who have done many years service......but Ford have made it clear that they won't be offerong any voluntary or 'special' redundacy packages.......the best most will get will be 'statutary'.
I wonder if Ford still keep their historic car collection there. I organised a visit about 10 years ago, ironically for a few of our our Essex CCCUK members.....some interesting and rare cars ans trucks they have there at Dagenham.