POEM - AT THAMES GATEWAY

(Inspired by S T Coleridge’s poem “Kubla Khan”)


At Thames Gateway did Rogers Khan*
A stately pleasure-dome decree,
Where Tamesis, sacred river, ran
Through transport corridor of man,
Down to Southend-on-Sea.

Then Government did command
A conference in London’s Dockland,
And midst this Rogers heard from far
Across the river voices prophesising war !
A montage of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves….
Government had failed to measure
Environmental impacts on the weather ! **

A planner and developer
In a vision once I saw,
With a traffic engineer,
And on his model he displayed
Complex forecasts overlaid.
What future held these three
For the Gateway Bridge Inquiry ?
At which junction, I awoke
And replied : The SEA, The SEA***


Janet Mackinnon


Notes

*Lord Rogers of Riverside, Chairman of the Urban Task Force
** Appendix 3 of my Proof of Evidence to the TGB Public Inquiry
*** Strategic Environmental Assessment - never provided for the TGB


The TGB planning inquiry inspector is due to submit his report to government this autumn (? October), and, to quote Transport for London's website : "A decision on whether or not the scheme will proceed is expected in spring 2007".

See also my June 2006 blog on the Thames Gateway Bridge.