We stand with Langley residents against the proposals for Langley High Street widening
Dear Langley residents,
We write to you as interested local Conservative activists with regard to the proposals which Slough Borough Council have put forward to reconfigure Langley High Street in preparation for when Hollow Hill Lane is closed for Network Rail’s new railway link to Heathrow Airport.
They have put forward two options for consultation (which you can view here online), which are both similar in nature. The key difference being that Option A takes away 1686m2 of land from the Memorial Park with a central island, whereas Option B takes away 1450m2 with no central island. The overall objective is to make two lanes become four, which means having a dual carriageway in both directions from high street junction with Meadfield Road to Elmhurst Road.
The Council aims to reduce congestion, improve air quality, give better public transport, however, we would contest this and say that it does none of that; in fact we believe these proposals are detrimental to local residents, and will make quality of life worse.
The improvements can be seen to be detrimental to the wider public at large, for the following reasons:
- Bottleneck Effect - As the options show, the merging of lanes near Marish Court causes a potential highway safety issue. Further, it is likely the congestion will build up at this point, therefore, only passing the congestion onto another stretch of the B470. This simply isn’t a permanent solution to the congestion problem within the Langley High Street area.
- Land Grabbing from Langley Memorial Park - the Council is proposing to take away between 0.35 acres and 0.41 acres from the park. This park has been given to the people of Slough on Trust to be used only for amenity purposes and doesn’t belong to them at all. We believe this is an abuse of powers by Labour, and under Trust to the people of Slough this green area should be protected and preserved.
- Creating so called Better Public Transport - Slough council have failed to lobby network rail into allowing a stop at the Langley station for the new railway link to Heathrow. In failing us on this they now want to create further bus lanes on this stretch of the High Street. This most naturally will increase congestion and air pollution.
- Lack of Consultation & Options - Most people are unaware of the virtual consultations that are taking place as these are being publicised on Facebook and twitter only. The Labour-controlled, Slough Borough Council are happy to spend circa £36,000 of taxpayer’s money on “One Slough” propaganda booklets to be sent to every home in the town, however, they are reluctant in sending out consultation letters to local residents. Only two options have been prepared and both are similar in nature. It is clear that Labour are only ever thinking of solutions which exacerbate the issue at hand, as seen most recently by the introduction of the bus lane on the A4 Bath Road.
Your voice matters in shaping this town, for the prosperity of our future generations. Don’t let Labour’s monopoly silence your voice. Local Labour Councillors have done nothing to stand up against this proposal or represent local voices. In their absence, we will stand up for residents on this, and will also actively seek advice on the legality of the proposals to take land from Langley Memorial Park, which was given to the people of this town in Trust.
We would urge all residents to stand with us against this proposal and send your comments to us through our online survey below.
Many Thanks,