“WIKILEAX” LEAKS GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS ABOUT CONNECTOR

Welcome to “WikiLeax,” a take-off of the controversial WikiLeaks web site, which features internal government documents about the proposed St. Margaret’s Bay connector road.

There are five potential routes for the connector: an Ingramport route that would require paving over homes and four others that would not.  Despite this, the government has repeatedly refused to rule out paving over homes.

The documents on this site, which residents obtained through Freedom of Information requests, reveal:

·        The home-destroying route for the connector is not the best option – even when destroying homes is not a consideration.  A report by external experts shows that another route, which would not require destroying homes, would be the best shortcut and do the most to help first responders.

·        Department of Transportation engineers believe the Ingramport location for the connector is “the best,” despite the fact that it could result in the destruction of homes: “Due to operational requirements we cannot relocate the proposed interchange.  The proposed location near Ingramport has its challenges but it is still the best location.”

·        Public consultations about the connector are a sham: “These sessions would not really be consultations.  We would be going to the public with fully or substantially completed detailed designs, many of them with roundabouts, to educate and inform, rather than consult.” 

We obviously aren’t suggesting the connector is as important as the leaked US diplomatic cables, but it is extremely important to those of us whose homes could be destroyed unnecessarily.  These documents show that the home-destroying route is not the best option based on any of the factors that matter - time savings, helping first responders and, of course, destroying homes.  So the government should drop the home-destroying route from consideration.