Arundel bypass halted
ian | 10.07.2003 13:52
At the last minute, and against all expectations, the Government dropped its support for the environmentally destructive Arundel bypass scheme, as well as for the equally disastrous proposed Worthing bypass across the South Downs behind Cissbury Ring. This victory has come as a surprise to many and clearly shows that direct action works.
On Wednesday, Alistair Darling, the Transport secretary, announced a £7 billion road building programme which includes the contraversial widening of the M25 & the M1. Environmental campaigners have slammed these proposals with one spokesperson for Friends of the Earth saying "It is a betrayal of Labour's pledges to improve public transport and not concrete over the countryside. This announcement is just a giant, expensive and futile sticking plaster applied to the running sore that is Britain's transport crisis."
For more details about the Arundel Bypass check outThe Worthing Porkbolter & for up to date info on UK road issues check out Roadalert.
On Wednesday, Alistair Darling, the Transport secretary, announced a £7 billion road building programme which includes the contraversial widening of the M25 & the M1. Environmental campaigners have slammed these proposals with one spokesperson for Friends of the Earth saying "It is a betrayal of Labour's pledges to improve public transport and not concrete over the countryside. This announcement is just a giant, expensive and futile sticking plaster applied to the running sore that is Britain's transport crisis."
For more details about the Arundel Bypass check outThe Worthing Porkbolter & for up to date info on UK road issues check out Roadalert.
A famous victory has today been won by the campaign to halt the second Arundel bypass in West Sussex.
At the last minute, and against all expectations, the Government dropped its support for the environmentally destructive scheme, as well as for the equally disastrous proposed Worthing bypass across the South Downs behind Cissbury Ring. Arundel and South Downs MP Howard Flight was certainly caught by surprise, having sent out a statement to local press earlier in the week welcoming 'the Government announcement to proceed with a bypass for Arundel'.
The last week has seen a flurry of media interest in the Arundel protest camp at Tortington Common, with reports everywhere from BBC TV and Meridian to the Evening Argus, The Times and The Guardian. A hint as to the reasons why the Government backed down in West Sussex, while ploughing ahead with road plans elsewhere in the country, came in a report on the Evening Standard website this morning (Wednesday). Written before the announcement, and seemingly expecting the Arundel road to be given the green light, it added: "The Government will be desperate to avoid clashes with committed activists such as 'Swampy' - so-called 'king of the eco-warriors'. It is still nervous of provoking the kind of confrontations that created ugly scenes at Twyford Down and the Newbury bypass in the late nineties."
We've said it before and we'll say it again: direct action works
- e-mail: worthing@eco-action Homepage: http://www.eco-action.org/porkbolter
Mainstream media links :
'This is a futile sticking plaster for a running sore' The Guardian
Green groups condemned the government's plans to widen Britain's biggest roads and said it was a waste of money and a betrayal of the promises on transport - it would merely postpone inevitable gridlock. There was relief that some of the most damaging schemes in the West Midlands green belt and along the south coast, such as the Arundel bypass, had been rejected or would be revised. But environmental groups, including the National Trust, remained suspicious of government intentions.
The Friends of the Earth transport campaigner Tony Bosworth said: "It is a betrayal of Labour's pledges to improve public transport and not concrete over the countryside. This announcement is just a giant, expensive and futile sticking plaster applied to the running sore that is Britain's transport crisis."
He added: "We haven't got 10 years to wait for road charging to begin. We need better public transport and more help for pedestrians and cyclists today."
John Whitelegg, professor of sustainable transport at Liverpool John Moores University and the Green party's spokesman on transport, said: "This is the last nail in the coffin of Labour's pretensions to any kind of integrated transport policy, or probably any green policy at all. You can't make decisions like this in one breath and talk about tackling climate change in the other. "Road building like this also takes money away from sustainable transport. If we scrapped the road building programme it would save £30bn over 10 years, and we could fund a revolution in green transport."
Paul Hamblin, head of transport policy for the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: "Firm government action is required to tackle car dependency and manage demand if the spectre of road building is not to continue to hang over valuable areas of countryside. "The M25 is one of the best examples of expanding roads leading to more traffic. Widening it before charging is in place would be retrograde." The National Trust welcomed the decision to scrap some elements of the proposed south coast road plans, but warned of the dangers to the environment and economy of the wider programme.
Sue Saville, the National Trust's south-east regional director, said: "It is encouraging that the government has listened to the arguments and dropped some of the most damaging elements of its plans. But the remaining proposals could still affect an area like the South Downs, which provides a vital green lung and economic resource for the region." http://politics.guardian.co.uk/publicservices/story/0,11032,995159,00.html ========================================================================= http://politics.guardian.co.uk/green/story/0,9061,994553,00.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,3605,994226,00.html map of proposed roadschemes - http://www.guardian.co.uk/graphic/0,5812,994625,00.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3052909.stm http://thisisworthing.co.uk/worthing/news/NEWS0.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3053031.stm http://politics.guardian.co.uk/publicservices/story/0,11032,994810,00.html – alistair darlings speech =========================================================================
At the last minute, and against all expectations, the Government dropped its support for the environmentally destructive scheme, as well as for the equally disastrous proposed Worthing bypass across the South Downs behind Cissbury Ring. Arundel and South Downs MP Howard Flight was certainly caught by surprise, having sent out a statement to local press earlier in the week welcoming 'the Government announcement to proceed with a bypass for Arundel'.
The last week has seen a flurry of media interest in the Arundel protest camp at Tortington Common, with reports everywhere from BBC TV and Meridian to the Evening Argus, The Times and The Guardian. A hint as to the reasons why the Government backed down in West Sussex, while ploughing ahead with road plans elsewhere in the country, came in a report on the Evening Standard website this morning (Wednesday). Written before the announcement, and seemingly expecting the Arundel road to be given the green light, it added: "The Government will be desperate to avoid clashes with committed activists such as 'Swampy' - so-called 'king of the eco-warriors'. It is still nervous of provoking the kind of confrontations that created ugly scenes at Twyford Down and the Newbury bypass in the late nineties."
We've said it before and we'll say it again: direct action works
- e-mail: worthing@eco-action Homepage: http://www.eco-action.org/porkbolter
Mainstream media links :
'This is a futile sticking plaster for a running sore' The Guardian
Green groups condemned the government's plans to widen Britain's biggest roads and said it was a waste of money and a betrayal of the promises on transport - it would merely postpone inevitable gridlock. There was relief that some of the most damaging schemes in the West Midlands green belt and along the south coast, such as the Arundel bypass, had been rejected or would be revised. But environmental groups, including the National Trust, remained suspicious of government intentions.
The Friends of the Earth transport campaigner Tony Bosworth said: "It is a betrayal of Labour's pledges to improve public transport and not concrete over the countryside. This announcement is just a giant, expensive and futile sticking plaster applied to the running sore that is Britain's transport crisis."
He added: "We haven't got 10 years to wait for road charging to begin. We need better public transport and more help for pedestrians and cyclists today."
John Whitelegg, professor of sustainable transport at Liverpool John Moores University and the Green party's spokesman on transport, said: "This is the last nail in the coffin of Labour's pretensions to any kind of integrated transport policy, or probably any green policy at all. You can't make decisions like this in one breath and talk about tackling climate change in the other. "Road building like this also takes money away from sustainable transport. If we scrapped the road building programme it would save £30bn over 10 years, and we could fund a revolution in green transport."
Paul Hamblin, head of transport policy for the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: "Firm government action is required to tackle car dependency and manage demand if the spectre of road building is not to continue to hang over valuable areas of countryside. "The M25 is one of the best examples of expanding roads leading to more traffic. Widening it before charging is in place would be retrograde." The National Trust welcomed the decision to scrap some elements of the proposed south coast road plans, but warned of the dangers to the environment and economy of the wider programme.
Sue Saville, the National Trust's south-east regional director, said: "It is encouraging that the government has listened to the arguments and dropped some of the most damaging elements of its plans. But the remaining proposals could still affect an area like the South Downs, which provides a vital green lung and economic resource for the region." http://politics.guardian.co.uk/publicservices/story/0,11032,995159,00.html ========================================================================= http://politics.guardian.co.uk/green/story/0,9061,994553,00.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,3605,994226,00.html map of proposed roadschemes - http://www.guardian.co.uk/graphic/0,5812,994625,00.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3052909.stm http://thisisworthing.co.uk/worthing/news/NEWS0.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3053031.stm http://politics.guardian.co.uk/publicservices/story/0,11032,994810,00.html – alistair darlings speech =========================================================================
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