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5.5bn transport promise heralds new conflict

The government unveiled a £5.5bn package of major national and local transport measures yesterday but although approved by motoring organisations, the announcement was not received well by green organisations who believe the government has buckled under pressure from the roads lobby and shifted its policy towards the environmentally unfriendly car.

The improvements tackle some of the country's most serious transport problems and include significant improvements to the M1, M4, M5, and the M6 - as well as new proposals to protect the World Heritage Site of Stonehenge alongside the A303 in Wiltshire.

Nineteen major new local transport schemes - including light rail services, new public transport interchanges, dedicated bus corridors, town centre accessibility improvements, and local road improvements - have also been given the go-ahead, subject to necessary statutory procedures.

Environmentalists fear the plans will destroy key wildlife sites, with Transport 2000 calling the announcement "a serious return to big road building".

Friends of the Earth's Transport Campaigner Tony Bosworth said:

“The Government has ditched its promise to cut UK traffic levels and run up the white flag to the roads lobby. Attempting to tarmac our way out of our congestion problems has failed in the past and will fail again in the future. When the most congested parts of the M25 were widened a few years ago, many sections filled up again within a few years.”

“These roads will also damage some of the UK's finest countryside. The A303 will plough through the west Wiltshire Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and still poses a major threat to the Blackdown Hills.”

“We welcome the support that local authorities have been given to improve public transport, but it's insignificant in comparison to the scale of road-building.”

Some of the plans have addressed environmental issues. The plans include a two kilometre tunnel to carry the A303 past Stonehenge in Wiltshire, to help protect the World Heritage Site from traffic - a move which has been welcomed by the National Trust. Rail links, footpaths and traffic management schemes are other green items included in the announcement.

Transport Secretary Alistair Darling said:

"We are committed to putting right decades of under-investment. Nationally, by improving the strategic road network - widening parts of the M6 and M1 - and accelerating the work on the West Coast Main Line, we are transforming major transport corridors in the country to bring real benefits for decades to come.”