Major transport announcement today: will Government learn from past mistakes?

1. The Department for Transport (DfT) is expected to announce today (Thursday) its decisions on road building which have been proposed as part of the Local Transport Plan major scheme bids and the Regional Funding Allocation process.{1} These will provide an important opportunity for the new Secretary of State, Douglas Alexander MP, to demonstrate the Government's commitment to the environment in its decisions on transport schemes.

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NOTE FOR EDITORS
Details of 11 particularly damaging road schemes awaiting the Government's decision follow below.

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2. The announcement comes in the wake of the launch earlier this week of a joint CPRE / Countryside Agency report Beyond Transport Infrastructure: Lessons for the future from recent road projects{2} which demonstrates that bypasses do not always relieve congestion and that new roads create new traffic, trigger new development and can permanently damage local landscapes. It calls for evaluations of new roads to be used to inform future road policy. CPRE's Policy Director Neil Sinden said: 'We urge the Department for Transport to consider carefully the findings of this report before approving more damaging road schemes. We need to learn from our past mistakes, but the evidence from this report shows we are instead continuing to repeat them.'

3. CPRE will be scrutinising today's announcement in light of the Government's commitment to:

• tackle climate change, and the DfT's shared PSA target on reducing emissions;
• reduce the need to travel;
• only build new roads as a last resort;
• maintain its presumption against building in sensitive areas;
• achieve high environmental standards; and
• examine the details of road user charging and other demand management measures, especially with the Highways Agency moving from a 'predict and provide' approach, to one of 'predict and manage'. CPRE will be keen to see how the Department ensures that a scheme's 'benefits will be locked in' through such measures.

Damaging roads proposals

4. CPRE and its local campaigners have already objected to a number of the major highway schemes which are under consideration and is concerned by many others where the promoters have not properly considered public transport alternatives or the adverse environmental impacts and where the proposals contain unsupported assertions about economic benefits. With many of the schemes passing through Green Belt or greenfield land, CPRE believes that significant environmental damage would be caused without there being viable long-term solutions to traffic problems.

ELEVEN ROAD PROPOSALS CPRE IS PARTICULARLY CONCERNED ABOUT:

LANCASHIRE
Heysham-M6 Link Road – won't relieve traffic
Contact: David Clarke, 01253 836 859
'The scheme has no economic justification, and would have a devastating effect on the local environment. It would do little to alleviate traffic congestion in Lancaster in the long term, and instead would generate significant new traffic movements. It would have adverse effects on the Green Belt, intrude into the landscape and sever communities. We would like to see serious consideration of an integrated public transport solution instead.'

LANCASHIRE
A5225 Wigan Gateway – would destroy Green Belt and wildlife sites
Contact: David Clarke, 01253 836 859
'The road would severely impact sites of biological importance, protected species and Green Belt land, where there would be extensive opportunities on unfarmable pockets of land for infill development. Its assumed economic benefits have not been adequately demonstrated through an Economic Impact Report, and there appears to have been no thorough consideration of other measures to relieve congestion in Wigan.'

CHESHIRE / MANCHESTER
SEMMMS Relief Road – Harm to National Park, Goyt Valley and Green Belt
Contact: Lillian Burns, 01625 829 492
'The South East Manchester Multi-Modal Study (SEMMMS) Relief Road, which comprises a network of roads, 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 enable more roads-based traffic to easily access the Peak District National Park, and promote further unsustainable expansion of Manchester Airport into Green Belt land and more houses and industrial buildings as in-fill development.'

NORTH CHESHIRE
A556 – a virtual motorway with unquantified economic benefits
Contact: Lillian Burns, 01625 829 492
'The scheme – which connects the M6 with the M56 through Mere – involves creating a high standard dual carriageway that is a motorway in all but name. Part of it would sweep into open countryside. It was not in the top rankings of the Regional Funding Allocation prioritisation when environmental and social issues were judged equally with perceived economic benefits, using the original weighting methodology. But the methodology was switched by Government Office of the North West at the last minute to give perceived economic benefits a 50% rating and social and environmental impacts only 25% each. This brought the A556 scheme up to second in the whole region - even though no economic impact assessment has been carried out.'

WALSALL
Brownhills Transport Strategy – won't help town centre
Contact: Gerald Kells, 01922 636 601
'CPRE is not convinced this bypass of Brownhills, near Lichfield, is needed in order to deliver town centre improvements. The proposed route runs entirely through the Green Belt and there is the added danger that the scheme would attract further development. It would not relieve congestion. There are less intrusive options which Walsall could progress such as proposed alternative junction improvements.'

HEREFORDSHIRE
Rotherwas Relief Road – public transport is better option
Contact: Gerald Kells, 01922 636 601
'This road would run through an open stretch of countryside designated as High Landscape Value and affect the Dinedor AONB. The road closely follows the route that was part of a bypass rejected at public inquiry in 1991/2. An existing (but now disused) railway line could be reopened instead.'

WILTSHIRE
Westbury Bypass – poor value for mone
Contact: Rosemary Marx, 01225 768 705
'The proposed A350 eastern bypass for Westbury would gravely harm the landscape viewed from the famous Westbury White Horse, would damage a locally designated Special Landscape Area and would promote suburbanisation and greenfield expansion of a small town already suffering from over-development.'

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
Pleasley Bypass extension - would suburbanise the countryside
Contact: John Gillespie, 01636 813 560
'On balance, the construction of the bypass on greenfield land more than offsets the potential short-term benefit of this scheme to some local residents. Locally valued natural features would effectively be suburbanised.'

NORFOLK
Acle Straight - dualling would destroy Norfolk Broads National Park
Contact: Ian Shepherd, 01263 713 370
'We welcome the package of safety measures announced on 4 July for the A47 Acle Straight, and agree that these will improve safety whilst respecting the landscape of the Broads. The regeneration of Yarmouth requires a number of measures but not the dualling of this road. We hope these measures will mean an end to the threat of dualling. We remain concerned, however, by the Highways Agency's commitment to carry out a £40,000 dyke relocation feasibility study 'in case the Acle Straight needs to be widened' in future.

SOUTH YORKSHIRE
Finningley and Rossington Regeneration Routes – would increase car use
Contact: Andy Tickle, 0114 266 5822
'The link road should be abandoned in favour of major public transport improvements. The proposed scheme would promote car use and have impacts on open countryside, archaeological sites and protected species.'

DERBYSHIRE / HIGH PEAK
Glossop Spur – would encroach valued local countryside
Contact: Andy Tickle, 0114 266 5822
'The money spent on the Spur, which would only provide temporary benefits, would be much better spent on a package of measures to reduce journeys and provide improved public transport between local towns.'

We are also anticipating the Government to announce whether or not it is to continue funding controversial schemes including the Weymouth Relief Road, Bexhill to Hastings Link Road and the Mottram-Tintwistle Bypass.

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NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. Local Transport Plans (LTPs) are drawn up by highways authorities (county councils, unitary authorities, and metropolitan boroughs), or by groups of authorities, to give strategies for transport over a 5-year period, including proposed new infrastructure. Large-scale, non-trunk road transport infrastructure projects, based outside the London region and with costs in excess of £5 million, are known as major schemes and are submitted to the Government for approval. Through the Regional Funding Allocation, Regional Assemblies suggest to the Government how it should apportion the money allotted to each region for transport, housing and economic development. The Government is soon to decide which of the road and public schemes prioritised by the Assemblies (including LTP schemes) should be approved.

2. Beyond Transport Infrastructure, published on 3 July, can be downloaded free of charge from our website or from www.countryside.gov.uk. Alternatively contact the CPRE press office.