11.01.07 - More uncertainty for controversial Link Road. Does it satisfy Government guidelines?
In a week when MP Geraldine Smith asked an uncomfortable Parliamentary question about alternative options to the Heysham M6 Link, a report by a leading transport expert has raised serious issues for the Government, and has clear implications for the controversial Northern route plans, at present being considered by Government Ministers as a possible case for a public inquiry.
Dr. Denvil Coombe, a nationally recognised expert [1], was asked to consider, in connection with a link road plan at Hastings [2], whether alternative options to that road scheme had been thoroughly and properly investigated in line with best technical practice and government guidance. He found that the Government approved plans for the controversial Hastings Link road against their own guidance and without fully considering alternatives.
This has prompted national environmental campaign organisations [3] to write to the Secretary of State for Transport Douglas Alexander to request a meeting, demanding that the Hastings scheme, and others including the Heysham M6 Link, be reconsidered.
Government policy on the appraisal of road building schemes is clear. “The appraisal must include a detailed assessment of the scheme against alternative options that would, as far as possible, broadly meet the same objectives. Any major scheme for which the appraisal of alternative options is considered inadequate, or where the Department considers alternative options to be preferable, will not be accepted for funding.”
David Gate, Chair of Transport Solutions for Lancaster and Morecambe (TSLM) the local campaign group said “MP Geraldine Smith has asked in Parliament whether all of the options to the Northern route have been listed in the County Council’s case for the road. [4] The only non-road-building option they could come up with was a 14 year old study. We believe that the County Council simply made a dash to grab funding for the Northern route without a full consideration of alternatives.”
“The County Council has failed to do enough work on alternatives to building the damaging and underperforming Northern route, and at this time of unprecedented concern about climate change, it is logical, wise, and necessary to fully investigate alternatives. The Hastings case highlights the need for the Government to be serious about curbing environmental damage, and they can help our district by setting up a much needed public inquiry and refuse Government funding for the ill conceived Northern route plan.”
NOTES
1. Dr Denvil Coombe's report, Investigation of Alternatives to the Bexhill to Hastings Link Road, 2006, is available online:
http://www.transport2000.org.uk/news/bexhill_hastings_link_road.pdf
2. The new road would run from the A259 in Bexhill to the B2092 Queensway in Hastings, East Sussex, passing within metres of the Combe Haven Site of Special Scientific Interest and seriously damaging the outstanding countryside of Combe Haven.
3. The signatories are the Campaign to Protect Rural England, Friends of the Earth, The Hastings Alliance, Sustrans, Transport 2000 and The Woodland Trust.
4. On 22 January 2007, Geraldine Smith MP asked the Secretary of State for Transport whether all the rejected options to the preferred Heysham M6 Link (northern route) have been documented in the major scheme business case; and if he will list them.
See http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2007-01-22a.110524.h&s=speaker%3A10548#g110524.q0
Previously, on 5 December 2006, Geraldine Smith MP asked the Secretary of State for Transport what lower cost alternatives to the Heysham M6 link (Northern route) Lancashire County Council has put forward to his Department.
See: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2006-12-05a.104683.h&s=speaker%3A10548#g104683.q0