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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
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| Controversial 'zombie roads' scheme to be resuscitated | Controversial 'zombie roads' scheme to be resuscitated |
| (8 days later) | |
| Over 40 controversial road schemes abandoned by successive governments or defeated at public inquiry on environmental grounds have been revived as part of Britain's largest road-building programme in 25 years. | Over 40 controversial road schemes abandoned by successive governments or defeated at public inquiry on environmental grounds have been revived as part of Britain's largest road-building programme in 25 years. |
| Dubbed "zombie roads" because they were declared dead years ago but have now been resuscitated, they include a £100m bypass around Hereford, a new six-lane road through the Peak district, a dual carriageway through the Norfolk broads and a £1bn "super highway" to run much of the way from London to Ipswich. Other revived plans include a new Thames river crossing and the widening of the A303 past Stonehenge. | Dubbed "zombie roads" because they were declared dead years ago but have now been resuscitated, they include a £100m bypass around Hereford, a new six-lane road through the Peak district, a dual carriageway through the Norfolk broads and a £1bn "super highway" to run much of the way from London to Ipswich. Other revived plans include a new Thames river crossing and the widening of the A303 past Stonehenge. |
| According to the Department for Transport, only 44 national road schemes are presently under way or planned, but research of local authority plans by the Campaign for Better Transport has identified a further 150 schemes ranging from bypasses around villages to motorway-grade road improvements. | According to the Department for Transport, only 44 national road schemes are presently under way or planned, but research of local authority plans by the Campaign for Better Transport has identified a further 150 schemes ranging from bypasses around villages to motorway-grade road improvements. |
| In addition, roads minister Stephen Hammond has recently floated the idea of a new Oxford-Cambridge road and a possible motorway stretching along the south coast. | In addition, roads minister Stephen Hammond has recently floated the idea of a new Oxford-Cambridge road and a possible motorway stretching along the south coast. |
| "Plans for [many of] these roads have already been fought and defeated. But like zombies, they keep coming back. Their impacts haven't changed and local opposition will be just as strong," said Chris Gillham, a veteran of the Twyford Down protests. | "Plans for [many of] these roads have already been fought and defeated. But like zombies, they keep coming back. Their impacts haven't changed and local opposition will be just as strong," said Chris Gillham, a veteran of the Twyford Down protests. |
| Money for many of the proposed schemes is not guaranteed but groups of local authorities working with businesses are expected to share costs with central government on their priority schemes. | Money for many of the proposed schemes is not guaranteed but groups of local authorities working with businesses are expected to share costs with central government on their priority schemes. |
| Government and business lobby group the CBI expect some of the biggest road schemes to be funded by countries such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, pension funds and other international investors. | Government and business lobby group the CBI expect some of the biggest road schemes to be funded by countries such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, pension funds and other international investors. |
| The CBI pressed for privatisation of the English roads to raise the money needed to build more and improve infrastructure. National road pricing has been ruled out on existing roads for the duration of this parliament but the DfT has said it would consider proposals in future to build new roads with private capital through tolling. | The CBI pressed for privatisation of the English roads to raise the money needed to build more and improve infrastructure. National road pricing has been ruled out on existing roads for the duration of this parliament but the DfT has said it would consider proposals in future to build new roads with private capital through tolling. |
| "Without a change of approach, the UK's roads infrastructure will ... continue to slip down the international league tables. We need a gear change in how we manage and pay for our road network in the 21st century. A lack of investment means we are really struggling to increase road capacity, let alone adequately maintain what we already have," said John Cridland, CBI director-general. | "Without a change of approach, the UK's roads infrastructure will ... continue to slip down the international league tables. We need a gear change in how we manage and pay for our road network in the 21st century. A lack of investment means we are really struggling to increase road capacity, let alone adequately maintain what we already have," said John Cridland, CBI director-general. |
| But the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT), which has calculated that the 190 known schemes would cost a minimum of £20bn and possibly far more, has warned that the new roads would not solve the problems of congestion or kick-start the economy, but would damage the environment and generate fierce local opposition. | But the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT), which has calculated that the 190 known schemes would cost a minimum of £20bn and possibly far more, has warned that the new roads would not solve the problems of congestion or kick-start the economy, but would damage the environment and generate fierce local opposition. |
| Many of the schemes will be environmentally controversial. Work is expected to start shortly on the £93m Hastings to Bexhill link road which will destroy a tranquil valley and has been described by green groups as the most environmentally harmful and least economically justifiable road scheme currently being proposed in England. Other schemes will pass areas of outstanding beauty, national parks, green belt land and sites of special scientific interest. | Many of the schemes will be environmentally controversial. Work is expected to start shortly on the £93m Hastings to Bexhill link road which will destroy a tranquil valley and has been described by green groups as the most environmentally harmful and least economically justifiable road scheme currently being proposed in England. Other schemes will pass areas of outstanding beauty, national parks, green belt land and sites of special scientific interest. |
| "It seems like the lessons of the 1990s have been completely lost, with both local and national government going back to a large programme of road building. From playing fields and precious farmland to national parks, every green space is now at risk from these projects. It would be a massive step backwards to put billions into building zombie roads schemes that will, in the end, just generate more traffic. We know now that we can do better with more sensible transport spending, and if the government tries to resurrect the old thinking of the 1990s, we will defeat them again," said Sian Berry, road campaigner with the CBT. | "It seems like the lessons of the 1990s have been completely lost, with both local and national government going back to a large programme of road building. From playing fields and precious farmland to national parks, every green space is now at risk from these projects. It would be a massive step backwards to put billions into building zombie roads schemes that will, in the end, just generate more traffic. We know now that we can do better with more sensible transport spending, and if the government tries to resurrect the old thinking of the 1990s, we will defeat them again," said Sian Berry, road campaigner with the CBT. |
| In Hereford where Conservative party plans for a city bypass to be built over sensitive water meadows were dropped from the national programme in 1998 by Labour, local groups vowed to keep fighting a new version of the same road. "Nothing has dislodged the road from the county council's top aspirations. It has no qualms about trashing the environment. We will fight another 20 years if we have to. I can see a revival of direct action," said Paige Mitchell who fought the road 20 years ago. | In Hereford where Conservative party plans for a city bypass to be built over sensitive water meadows were dropped from the national programme in 1998 by Labour, local groups vowed to keep fighting a new version of the same road. "Nothing has dislodged the road from the county council's top aspirations. It has no qualms about trashing the environment. We will fight another 20 years if we have to. I can see a revival of direct action," said Paige Mitchell who fought the road 20 years ago. |
| The new road programme proposed by local authorities compares with the Conservative party's £24bn "roads for prosperity" programme designed to expand the motorway network, build up to 500 bypasses and massively boost the car economy in 1989. This was said by the Margaret Thatcher government to be "the biggest road programme since the Romans", but most were later dropped after protests in the 1990s. | The new road programme proposed by local authorities compares with the Conservative party's £24bn "roads for prosperity" programme designed to expand the motorway network, build up to 500 bypasses and massively boost the car economy in 1989. This was said by the Margaret Thatcher government to be "the biggest road programme since the Romans", but most were later dropped after protests in the 1990s. |
| "We learned decades ago that the huge cost of new roads makes them very poor value investments. Where the money is spent instead on good maintenance, better public transport, easier-to-find information about buses and trains, safer roads for walking and cycling and technology to use the roads more efficiently, we are seeing real improvements in congestion at a fraction of the cost," said Berry. | "We learned decades ago that the huge cost of new roads makes them very poor value investments. Where the money is spent instead on good maintenance, better public transport, easier-to-find information about buses and trains, safer roads for walking and cycling and technology to use the roads more efficiently, we are seeing real improvements in congestion at a fraction of the cost," said Berry. |
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