Leif Marriner says his love for the Isle of Wight has driven him to set up an ePetition to counter the campaign calling for a Solent Tunnel fixed link.
As reported last week, two Islanders, Kevin Price and Carl Feeney, are in the process of gathering views on whether there should be a referendum on having a fixed link (bridge or tunnel) to the mainland.
Leif said,
“I set up the Say No Fixed Link Referendum e petition because I protect the things I love and I love the Isle of Wight.
“As a resident of the Island for 35 years this is not a narrow minded view – I believe the developments a fixed link could bring should be started on the roads that flood in winter and the roads that turn to jam in the summer. Looking off the Island, the Solent hosts the largest ships in the world, military, commercial and leisure, providing this country with billions of pounds in revenue.
“A bridge that causes no hindrance to shipping would have to be epic in both cost and size.
“Tunnels are five times the cost per metre than bridges, notwithstanding that all feasibility studies in the past have shown the composition of ground beneath the Solent to be unable to support a tunnel. The island has gained an identity as a retreat from mainland Britain. We have beautiful beaches, beautiful Downs and beautiful people and I wouldn’t want to change a thing.”
The petitions
The ePetition against a fixed link to the Isle of Wight had 724 signatures at time of publishing.
The ePetition calling for a fixed link has gathered 2,620 signatures at time of publishing.
A Facebook group called Isle of Wight – Fix the Ferries First, Not a Fixed Link welcome debate on the subject.
Previous plans for fixed link
According to an article in the Daily Echo a feasibility study carried out in 1998 found that a toll-funded road tunnel would cost more than £300m and that a in 2002 a £60m plan for a rail tunnel between Portsmouth and Ryde was abandoned after massive public outcry.
Image: ronsaunders47 under CC BY 2.0
