THE St Mary's Roundabout scheme will go ahead as planned — despite a last-ditch attempt to halt the works at an ill-tempered Isle of Wight Council meeting last night (Wednesday).
At one point, the meeting was briefly adjourned and the public gallery cleared after one resident, who was shouting from the gallery, was warned he would be asked to leave unless he calmed down.
The extraordinary full council meeting was held after opposition councillors called for the St Mary's works to be halted until after other traffic issues, namely the traffic lights at Coppins Bridge, were addressed.
Councillors voted for the works to go ahead but agreed an urgent review of the Coppins Bridge lights, and the timing of proposed works, should be carried out. However, the motion was not binding, and only requests the cabinet carry out the review.
The motion — amended by council leader, Cllr Dave Stewart — was carried by 16 votes to 12.
Nine councillors, largely Conservatives, were absent from the meeting.
Cllr Matthew Price was the only Tory member to vote against the motion.
Cllr Julie Jones-Evans, who submitted the original motion calling for the St Mary's works to be postponed, said Cllr Stewart's amendment should be dismissed as it 'took everything out' of her proposal.
Cllr Ian Ward, cabinet member for infrastructure and transport, accused members of 'jumping on the bandwagon' to complain about the scheme.
He said: "The plan is primarily to future proof Newport’s strategic junctions in the face of increasing development and the associated rise in traffic levels. This is going to happen, we live in the real world.
"To disrupt the current plan is to endanger the current improvements and condemn residents to longer delays, more congestion, more pollution and the degradation of their quality of life as traffic levels will rise. How do you justify that to your residents?"
After the meeting, Cllr Jones-Evans said she was disappointed the Conservative councillors had taken the route they did.
"We are here to talk about the fears the public have and what they see as obvious concerns," she said.
"We should be addressing the problems we have know like the nightmare that is Coppins Bridge.
"I hoped we could have a grown-up conversation about this but clearly it has come to this — to have a public row abut it."
A petition to stop the St Mary's works has been signed by more the 2,800 people.
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