Are road inquiries a dead letter?
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PUBLIC inquiries into road airport and nuclear power station projects are steadily diminishing in credibility. There is a growing belief that they are merely smokescreens to conceal decisions already taken by Government to the detriment of those most affected.
Even some of the unhappy inspectors who have had to conduct inquiries appear to have lost confidence in the system. And who can blame them when they have been abused, threatened with physical violence and otherwise harassed? The sickening conduct of some of the protesters against road schemes, notably Archway Road in London, will not be forgotten in a hurry.
The topic was brought into sharp focus by a BBC television programme in which it appeared that the majority of people now accepted law-breaking as a means to an end. The danger is that it will become an end in itself, as has happened in some of the mining areas.