Download here the first set of agreed actions arising from the meeting on Friday 22nd June between Highways England, A14 Delivery Team, South Cambs District Council and representatives of the H&I and OP Action Group: A14 Agreed Actions engagement group 22 June 18

Why is this list of actions important? In order to move from a conflictive situation where there is much recrimination and very little trust between the different groups, it is not enough just to get people to sit around the table and talk. Even though, at times, that is hard enough. There has to be a demonstrable result – no matter how small – to show that there is genuine commitment to mending bridges which, in turn, gives the different groups enough confidence to continue with the dialogue to address the more complex issues.

These agreed actions aim to build that confidence in this dialogue process. They don’t solve everything but they do provide the basis for greater transparency and understanding of each others’ viewpoints, options and needs. The first actions on the list are very much to do with house-keeping: clarifying who takes decisions about what; who is responsible for what; who gets notified, when and how; and how complaints are attended to and can be escalated. The next set of actions are about noise monitoring and noise mitigation measures: the source of much distress, anger and frustration within the community.

Some of the actions have already been undertaken, which is a good and hopeful sign. The full set of actions will be reviewed at the next meeting on Friday 13th July. This meeting will then focus on the concerns about air quality monitoring.

You can read more about the meeting itself here: The start of meaningful dialogue with Highways England over the A14 works