On Tuesday 21st April, members from St. Austell Bay CoC met with the Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin at St Austell Printing Company’s conference centre. The meeting focused on the Road, Rail and Air transport links and issues for the area.
Representatives from business and local investors included the Eden Project, Cornwall College, Kingsley Developments, Commercial Estates group plus Town and County Councillors alongside Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for St Austell and Newquay, Steve Double.
However, the main topic for the local business community was the urgent and essential need for an improved, faster and more direct A391 connection to the A30. All the attendees were keen to hammer home the message that good transport connectivity is essential for St. Austell, not just to provide relief from heavy traffic to the villages of Roche and Bugle, but also in order to attract new business and employment to the area.
After the meeting Chairman, Dave Halton, said, “Patrick McLouglan, listened, offered advise and said the A30 link-up seems like it ticks all the boxes. Later, we had the commitment from David Cameron that the Department of Transport and the Local Growth Fund will be asked to prioritise a bid for funding to link the A391 to the A30, to help stimulate the growth of small and medium size businesses and employment in the St Austell area, if the Conservatives are in government.
“Unfortunately, there is no guarantee who will actually be in government after May 7th,” Mr. Halton added, “ But as the main business organisation for our area, we welcome positive action and whoever becomes our local MP we will be continuing to push the need for the A391 road link forward and as fast as possible.”
On Thursday, 23rd April, the representatives from the Chamber also met with Matt Silver form the LEP to learn more about how we can bring more grant and funding possibilities for business into our area.
On Wednesday, 29th April at St Austell Printing Company, the Chamber will be hosting an Open Meeting for the wider business community and stakeholders with a presentation and a Q&A opportunity from Treliver Minerals, who are interested in excavating for tin in St. Austell Bay
