Sam Morden, South Tyne and Wear Socialist Party
The main route between Gateshead and Newcastle has been closed for a month. Inspections of a flyover on the A167, that leads to the iconic Tyne Bridge, raised “serious concerns about structural integrity”. It is now propped up by large metal structures.
This 1960s piece of infrastructure has been in disrepair for at least a decade, with a plan first raised in 2008 to demolish it! This leaves the only routes between Gateshead and Newcastle either the A1, which goes around both or the A189, which is difficult to access because of nonsensical one-way systems, implemented without any democratic oversight or consultation worth the name.
Gateshead Council, run continuously by Labour since its creation in 1974, has implemented austerity with apparent glee, only months ago targeting the stadium and the football club that plays there. There is growing anger directed at the council. The latest flyover issue is a neat illustration of the past couple of decades of decay, disrepair, and cuts.
Martin Gannon, as leader of the council, has time and time again made cuts and outsourced local services. Unbelievably, he describes himself as a “socialist”.
He has suggested that people ought to work from home. The vast majority are simply not able to do so.
Public transport has been affected, with buses diverted, isolating a section of the town from an already patchy and unreliable network. Tyne-Wear metro operator Nexus initially only slowed down trains passing beneath the flyover, before having to suspend all services across the River Tyne. Services have now restarted, because of the propped up flyover. Without knowing the danger, people were still using the flyover on the week of the inspections.
With the raising of the bus fare cap, and potentially its eventual scrapping, and routes and fares across the whole public transport network being decided by private companies or bureaucrats, the need for a democratically planned, fully funded public transport system, run by workers and local communities, is as important as ever.
The capitalist class in Britain is less and less capable of meeting the most basic of maintenance and welfare needs of the population. Only through a fight to end austerity and bring about a socialist future, can we have the decent-quality, safe, and healthy communities we deserve.
