Roads and more roads

A few days ago I read the CPRE report re road building - and have dashed off a news release today as I am disgusted by what they have found. See my press release here which I put together with a couple of other Green councillors in the region - and below stuff re the ridiculous plans for the M25.

The CPRE report shows that the majority of regional transport funding is going on roads, and will be for years to come, that road traffic levels have risen sharply over the last 2 decades and every region is now set to see transport emissions rise. Although it is not possible to separate out entirely the different types of transport funded in each region, CPRE have estimated the South West Region proportion spent on roads is a whopping 70%. As I said in the news release this is "wholly unacceptable, unnecessary and economically and environmentally damaging".

PFI for M25 is a bad idea for a bad scheme - take action

A wee while back I heard that the PFI deal for the M25 widening for the last remaining sections is on the rocks. PFI deals rely on banks having money to lend, but because we’ve had to bail so many out, there isn’t enough cash floating around to fund the scheme.

Now widening the M25 is about as silly an idea as they come. Government analysis has shown that any new capacity on that motorway just fills up within a year or so of it opening; there’s nothing to suggest that this won’t happen here. But the Government wants to bail out the widening project from a national infrastructure fund that is being set up to keep PFI schools and hospitals afloat. I’m not sure we should be bailing out PFI deals at all, but if we do, at least focus on things we need and not ever wider motorways.

So the Campaign for Better Transport has been asking people if they would mind taking a few minutes to email Geoff Hoon and ask him to rethink bailing out the M25 project. The link is here and there’s a template letter there as well. Please write if you have a mo.