Bypass rejection was government blunder - minister

Nigel Griffiths, Minister for Small Businesses was attending a Business Lunch Club meeting at Beauport Park Hotel hosted by Hastings College of Arts and Technology and Ten Sixty Six Enterprise.

Among those present were Bexhill Chamber of Commerce and Tourism president Tony Mansi and former president Malcolm Mitcheson.

Mr Mitcheson said former 1066 director John Cosson, attending as a governor of Hastings College, had reminded the Minister that he had talked about the Government's support for local industry and noted that he had arrived late for the meeting.

"He asked if the Minister was aware that Bexhill and Hastings were crying out for an improved infrastructure. He asked how when the chambers of commerce of Bexhill and Hastings together with Rother and Hastings councils and the South East Assembly had called for a bypass for Bexhill and Hastings had Stephen Byers when he was Transport Secretary rejected the scheme.

"The Minister told him 'We all make mistakes....'

"There was astonishment. People were aghast. There were audible gasps. We all found it wholly incredible. It's typical of the kind of Trivial Pursuit the Government plays with us.

"John Page (Pestalozzi Children's Village Trust) asked a good follow-up question. If it made sense for the Government to support local enterprise, didn't it also make sense to give us good roads.

"But it was like talking to a Martian."

Tony Mansi said: "We all knew it was a bad decision but for a Minister to admit it was quite something!

"Everyone was astounded. But all he said was what we all knew anyway - it was a bad decision by Stephen Byers.

"Everyone was so aghast that nobody really said anything until the meeting was finished when people began saying 'Did you hear what he said, he admitted it was a mistake..'"