Road-building threats
Plans are afoot to dual the A453 in Nottinghamshire. Photo (c) CPRE
The Highways Agency, regional agencies and local authorities are still driving forward a significant programme of road expansion in England.
East Midlands
A46 Newark to Widmerpool
Costing £348 million for 17 miles of new dual carriageway ploughing through the landscape alongside the existing road, this scheme would cost so much that there would be few funds left to spend on other transport projects in the region.
The combined effect of the existing and new roads would be to cut a huge scar into the landscape as well as stimulating growth in motor traffic.
A453 Nottingham to M1
Costing as much as £180 million this 11.5km route would cut through Clifton then green belt and high quality farmland. While described as a widening, much of the rural section would be off-line, meaning six lanes of tarmac. The Public Inquiry starts in November 2009.
East of England
Norwich Northern Distributor Road
Cutting through the countryside immediately north of Norwich, this destructive road would increase carbon emissions, having the fourth highest emissions of any local scheme in England, and traffic levels by up to 70% at rush hour. It would lead to pressure for infill development beyond the existing boundaries of Norwich as well as creating demands to complete the circle of roads around Norwich by bulldozing through the scenic Wensum valley to the north-west.
North East
Newcastle Western Bypass and A1 dualling
The widening of the Western Bypass and turning the A1 north of Newcastle into a dual carriageway would each cost hundreds of millions of pounds. Huge areas of countryside would be damaged not just by the amount of land used, but also by the traffic generated by the expanded road.
North West
Mottram Tintwistle Bypass
Although the public inquiry has been on hold since December 2007, the cost for this four mile bypass and spur road has now reached an incredible £300 million due to the viaducts, embankments and mitigation measures it requires. It would destroy part of the Peak District National Park, as well as part of the Greater Manchester Green Belt. Although the main proposal has now been dropped, the local authority is proposing a slimmed down version.
> Friends of the Peak District website
Heysham-M6 Link (Lancaster Northern Bypass)
The 5.1km dual carriageway would destroy 70ha of Green Belt, and affect two County Biological Heritage Sites - the Lune and the Lancaster Canal. Besides destroying 11km of hedgerows, much of the road would be raised and visible for miles.
> Transport Solutions for Lancaster & Morecombe website
SEMMMS 'Relief' Roads
This comprises a network of roads costing £1 billion drawn up following the 'South East Manchester Multi-Modal Study' (SEMMMS). Funding was advanced by the DfT for one road as part of the 'fiscal stimulus' despite the fact that the road does not have planning permission so cannot be built soon. It would have devastating impacts on a section of the Goyt Valley where there is ancient woodland, where evidence of otters has been found and where there are breeding lapwing. The scheme would facilitate more motor traffic spilling into the Peak District National Park, and promote further unsustainable expansion of Manchester Airport into Green Belt land as well as more in-fill development.
South East
Bexhill-Hastings Link Road
Besides destroying ancient woodland and having a severe effect on nature reserves, the road would spoil Coombe Haven Valley, one of the most important landscapes in the area. And although it is less than four miles long, the price tag for this road has now reached £100 million. A public inquiry is being held at the end of 2009.
Cogges Link Road
This road would cut through Witney's water meadows, raising the flood risk as well as ruining the view. Cheaper alternatives include minor modifications to existing junctions.
> CPRE Oxfordshire Cogges Link Road information
South West
South Devon Link Road
Despite Torbay to Newton Abbot having been identified as a sustainable transport corridor, Devon County Council is proposing a destructive new road that would exacerbate traffic congestion at either end. Costing over £130 million, this three mile road would cut through the pretty village of Kingskerswell and then Kerswell Downs, an area of great landscape and biodiversity value.
> Kingkerswell Alliance website
Westbury Bypass
Wiltshire County Council proposed a 5.4km eastern bypass, as part of a 'strategic route' between the south coast and the M4 motorway, defying the regional strategy and rejecting transport solutions which reduce traffic and pollution.. This bypass would have meant fewer lorries going past about 230 properties in Westbury, but would make conditions worse in villages which already have worse congestion and more lorries. Worse still it would have cut through scarp slope of the Salisbury Plain, under the famous Westbury White Horse. The justification for the road was shattered in the Public Inquiry of 2008 and it was finally dropped in 2009.
> White Horse Alliance website
The road would have what a Planning Inspector described as a “seriously detrimental impact” on the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Two Mile Coppice, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and the only ancient woodland remaining in the area. Initial clearance work that started at the end of 2008 was disrupted by protesters occupying the trees. Despite tremendous efforts by CPRE Dorset, construction started in Spring 2009.
South Bristol Ring Road
This would cut through green belt in south Bristol and would promote infill development of car-dependent housing as well as increasing car traffic for the local airport.
> Alliance Against the South Bristol Ring Road website
West Midlands
Shrewsbury North West ‘Relief’ Road
Costing as much as £90 million, this road would plough through highly protected habitats and cross the Severn on a bridge almost one hundred feet high that would be seen and heard for miles around. Worse still, there would be strong pressure to allow infill development between the road and Shrewsbury.
> CPRE Shropshire's information about the NWRR
Hereford Bypass
Plans are afoot to resurrect the Hereford bypass, one of the few road schemes that was stopped at a public inquiry during the road building programme of the early 1990s. It is not clear yet whether it would run round the west of the city or the east through the Lugg meadows. In July 2009 the DfT put funding on hold to force the local council to look at non-road options.
Yorkshire and the Humber
M18 Finningley Link Road
Also known as the Finningley Airport and Rossington Regeneration Scheme link road, this dual carriageway would provide a proposed eco-town with a new link to the local airport. Its promoters like to claim the £130 million road as essential 'to helping this region come through the difficult times ahead'. However, it would unleash a wave of sprawl though the proposed eastern extension to Doncaster's green belt.
