SIR David Rowlands is either the best or the worst person to chair a public inquiry into the state of the A12.

As the former number one civil servant at the Department for Transport, he is well-connected and certainly ought to know his stuff.

On the other hand, after four years in the top job, and 20 in more junior transport roles, he must be as much to blame as anyone for the state of Britain's road and rail network.

Blame, at least as far as Essex is concerned, would seem to be the correct choice of word.

Our town centres are clogged with traffic, rush-hour trains from London are crammed to bursting, and accidents seem an almost daily occurrence on our overburdened A-roads.

County council leader Lord Hanningfield claimed yesterday not to know how much was being spent on the public inquiry, estimating the cost as "a few thousand pounds".

Whether that means £4,000 or £40,000, it will be a few thousand pounds of our hard-earned money.

So do we really want to spend it on a three-day investigation and yet another report, written by the man who was supposed to stop the transport system failing in the first place?

Sir David does not deny that the network is not good enough - a state of affairs he blames on decades of under-funding by his old political masters.

But he does believe things are better now than they were 20 years ago, highlighting developments like the high speed rail link from London's St Pancras Station to the Channel Tunnel, and the M6 toll road near Birmingham.

More pertinently, he believes he can be instrumental in persuading the Government to spend money on the A12.

"This country has probably under-invested in transport for a generation," Sir David said.

"A lot of work needs to be done on many of the significant roads in England.

"It is a question of priorities, and our inquiry is trying to help decide what the priority is for the A12.

"We will be asking why the A12 needs to be done first. What are the arguments for it?

INDEPENDENT "The inquiry is being commissioned by the county council, but it will be independent and give an independent insight for the Government to consider."

Sir David was travelling with his wife to the Stour Valley RSPB nature reserve when a blaze on a fire truck shut the A12 for the best part of a day last year.

Anyone who has shared his experience of a lengthy hold-up on the road will applaud his ambitions to improve matters.

But can we really do anything to stop delays that result from accidents and breakdowns caused either by bad driving or bad luck?

Remodelled junctions and longer sliproads at blackspots like Kelvedon could reduce the risk of collisions but, the next time a truck catches fire with explosive chemicals on board, emergency services will still have no option but to set up a roadblock.

Also, in the age of climate change, some will ask if spending big on the roads is the right option.

Perhaps we should invest the money on improving the rail network, instead - an idea that Sir David will consider.

"We are going to ask Network Rail and National Express East Anglia to come and give evidence," he said.

"We will be talking about how much freight is carried, and about commuters into central London, asking how much of the existing demand can be shifted onto the railway."

When the inquiry's findings are announced later this year, however, it seems likely that among them will be a proposal to widen the road's two-lane sections.

"The A12 will be serving two of the country's big container port developments, at Bathside Bay in Harwich and at Felixstowe," Sir David said.

"Added to that, a very large amount of houses are proposed to go into Essex.

"The A12 is not just a local road, but an important road for the country, and a real issue for the Government in terms of the overall performance of the UK economy."