New Town Support for Westeliff
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\V HEN Westcliff-on-Sea Motor Ser vices, Ltd., applied to the Metropolitan Licensing Authority on Monday to increase their express services between Southend and London, they were supported by Basildon New Town Development Corporation and opposed by Victoria Coaches (Leighon-Sea), Ltd. The Authority reserved his decision so that he could consult the Eastern Licensing Authority, who has already heard the case.
For the applicants, Mr. M. Holmes said that the company were licensed to run three journeys each way daily during the summer. They wished to run all the year round and to add another two journeys, also to pick up at Basildon.
Mr. King-Hamilton, Q.C., for Victoria Coaches, said that his clients would not object to a Basildon-London service, but opposed the present proposal because it would divert traffic from their own service.
Mr. L. E. Richards, assistant general manager of the Westcliff concern, said that neither a London-Southend nor a Basildon-London service would pay. He believed that the London-Southend service which his company had run for many years should be allowed to develop naturally in the light of the large middle-of-the-route population at Basildon, and not be influenced by Victoria Coaches "workmen's service."
Mr. R. C. Boniface, chief solicitor of the Development Corporation, stated that whilst it was their policy to encourage Basildon people not to travel to London to work, they wanted facilities for them to visit the city for social purposes and entertainment.