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The Trees

The trees are coming 

  into leaf
Like something almost 

  being said;
The recent buds relax 

  and spread,
Their greenness is a 

  kind of grief.

Is it that they are 

  born again
And we grow old? No, 

  they die too.
Their yearly trick of 

  looking new
Is written down in rings 

  of grain.

Yet still the unresting 

  castles thresh
In fullgrown thickness 

  every May.
Last year is dead, they 

  seem to say,
Begin afresh, afresh, 

  afresh.

by Philip Larkin

Background To The Campaign

In December 2000 the Government announced that it had allocated Southend Borough Council (SBC), £36m to support the Local Transport Plan (LTP) strategy for improvements in the area, over a five year period between 2001-2006. This figure included £3.5m towards the upgrading of the A1159/Priory Crescent to dual carriageway status, on the 800m stretch of road between Cuckoo Corner and the Southend Victoria-Liverpool street railway line.

Dualling of this stretch of road has been considered for many years, with the first significant effort being to do so in 1974, when the local authority still came under the jurisdiction of Essex County Council. The project has a long history of being bitterly opposed by local residents, with 12,578 people signing petitions against the scheme at that time.

Parklife joined the Integrated Transportation Partnership - the forum set up to input into the LTP and the development of the Major Scheme elements - in June 2001, after Government had approved the draft LTP, with the expectation of working to develop the Priory Crescent scheme, whilst mitigating impacts to Priory Park.

Events, demonstrations and direct actions were held on a regular basis from the early summer of 2001, up until the local public inquiry into the F5 road scheme which took place in March 2004. The announcement from Secretary of State for Transport Alistair Darling, was then made giving the go ahead for the road in January 2005.

SBC are still £17m short in funding, due to costs having risen since December 2000. This figure is based upon the latest LTP annual progress review published in July 2005 by Southend Borough Council.

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