Better Transport

8 April 2013: Local campaigner David Gate is astonished that the green light was given to this road after the Examiner found so much to criticise about the plans.

4 March 2013: Campaigners have delivered a dramatic message to Transport Ministers, demanding they reveal their reasons for funding the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road.

8 February 2013: An emergency petition is launched as the DfT admits it hasn’t yet approved its share of funding for the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road.

1 February 2013: Send Transport for London your objections to filling East London with unnecessary new traffic.

29 January 2013: This week, road protest camp evictions continue, while six major environment groups visit the valley and the Hastings battle site issue goes to court.

25 January 2013: A consultation on new river crossings ends on 1 February. We’re strongly against cramming more cars into an area already suffering from too much traffic.

23 January 2013: Thirty-two transport professors have warned ministers that trying to build our way out of congestion is a dead end.

16 January 2013: I was in Crowhurst today as the second of the protest camps in the Combe Haven valley was evicted.

14 January 2013: Tom Druitt from Brighton tells us why he is protesting to save the Combe Haven valley near Hastings from a damaging new road.

7 January 2013: The lack of an update today shows that, outside Downing Street, plans to build new roads with private funds have very little support.

5 December 2012: Local communities need to be vigilant for a wave of new road building projects springing up as a result of today’s Autumn Statement by the Chancellor.

4 December 2012: Kim Barrett from campaign group PAULA explains why you should join her in opposing the A6 to Manchester Airport Link Road.

3 December 2012: A major report today shows some of the factors behind patterns of car use, and how policies can change future trends.

30 November 2012: The latest evidence from the A14 Study shows that plans for new toll roads should be dropped for good.

19 November 2012: The Prime Minister wants to cut down communities’ last legal defence against damaging infrastructure plans.

16 November 2012: TV conservationist Chris Packham has backed a local campaign to stop a road devastating an area popular with otters.

30 October 2012: Public consultations have started on two major zombie road projects in London and Manchester.

9 October 2012: We're offering training and support to anyone who wants to stop a new wave of road-building covering their local area with tarmac.

26 September 2012: Twyford Down is remembered with warnings about a new wave of road-building and protests, while activists in Hastings are preparing for peaceful resistance to a link road.

Councillor Andrew Boswell writes about how the proliferation of new local road proposals will breach clear requirements to cut carbon.

10 September 2012: Becca Lush Blum writes about her experiences at Twyford Down and the threat of new road-building plans.

28 August 2012: London, Brighton and Hove and Nottingham top our transport table, while the people of Wigan are rated the most dependent on cars to get around.

16 August 2012: Our new report highlights problems with the different ways ministers are thinking about privatising the road network.

16 July 2012: Local campaigners tell us about their battle to stop a resurrected road project in the Chancellor's constituency.

13 July 2012: Send us your evidence for the benefits of smarter travel initiatives.

29 June 2012: Campaigners from Witney First tell us how they stopped a damaging new road in the Prime Minister's constituency.

18 June 2012: Some great news this week as two damaging ‘Link Road’ projects bite the dust.

7 June 2012: The County Council has voted to restrict wind turbine development while planning new roads all over the countryside.

31 May: With road plans proliferating, new groups are springing up to oppose them while established campaigns are keeping up the pressure.

22 May: The Hastings Alliance urges visitors to come to the Combe Haven valley, threatened by the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road, this summer.

18 May: Campaign for Better Transport has joined a coalition of safety and environmental organisations to stop plans to increase the motorway speed limit.

17 April: With our government's record of over-stated traffic forecasts, will pension funds be convinced to invest money in new roads?

15 March: Campaigner Eileen Collier argues that rail freight and smarter choices are the best alternatives to a huge toll road in Cambridgeshire.

9 March 2012: Seven green organisations have written to Transport Secretary Justine Greening urging her not to fund the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road.

9 March: How we've helped to make the £2.4 billion Regional Growth Fund more transparent.

27 February: Transport for London is consulting on two new river crossings and we’re encouraging people to object to both.

22 February: We’ve mapped road threats as the PM quietly tells councils to shout loudly for their pet road schemes.

8 February: In a joint letter with CPRE we say the Highways Agency should be made more accountable not more commercial.

2 February: Our response to the DfT’s 'A14 Challenge' shows how congestion could be solved for one third of the cost of a huge widening project.

27 January: Derrick Coffee from the Hastings Alliance writes about the best chance in a decade to defeat a damaging road proposal on the south coast.

25 January: New traffic figures from the M6 toll road show it is still spectacularly failing. So why is the Government considering a new generation of toll roads?

6 January: The British Medical Journal has published a stinging editorial warning about the health costs of increasing the motorway speed limit.

15 December: Yesterday’s local transport funding decisions were a huge disappointment, but the game isn’t over yet for two of the worst roads.

14 December: The Norwich road got the go-ahead today, but Hastings will instead get a review of alternative options.

8 December: Funding for Regional Growth Fund projects has been allocated behind closed doors. We’re arguing these important decisions should be open to public scrutiny.

7 December: Lady Godiva rode through Halton to protest at Lancashire County Council’s £123.3 million Heysham to M6 Link Road.

6 December: Richard from the Kingskerswell Alliance writes about his disappointment that Ministers have ignored the concerns of thousands of local people to fund the Kingskerswell Bypass...

5 December: The Autumn Statement contained even more bad news than the Bristol and Kingskerswell ‘link roads’. Today we look at the resurrected A453 widening scheme.

2 December: As another old road proposal gets funding support from the government, campaigner Lillian Burns says that the Manchester Airport link roads are not needed.

1 December: National and London government joined forces to puff up transport proposals in the Autumn Statement. But within a couple of days the hot air already seems to have escaped.

1 December: This Sunday Lady Godiva will ride again - opposing an unjustified and expensive Link Road being built through Lancashire.

29 November: Hugely disappointing news as the Treasury announces extra money so that the DfT can approve every one of its road schemes.

21 November: It seems the RAC Foundation needs reminding that population and traffic growth are no longer joined at the hip.

15 November: A new report shows that the knock-on effects of new traffic have been ignored by the County Council’s modelling.

10 November: Quarterly traffic figures are out, showing falling vehicle numbers and undermining the case for new roads.

7 November: The £500 million Growing Places Fund from DCLG looks like yet another policy to encourage car-based developments.

3 November: Another expensive development-focused bypass is facing a public consultation – this time in Hereford

26 October: The M25 has always been a bit of a symbol, so as we ‘celebrate’ the 25th anniversary of its opening this week, it is worth seeing what lessons it has for us now.

19 October: We were very sad to hear that John Hartley, Chair of Campaign for Better Transport Devon, died on Monday night.

14 October: The comments period for the Development Pool of transport projects has just closed, and our advice to ministers is to focus on public transport, not roads.

13 October: Evidence from a new book claims that a proposed bypass in Sussex would cut through the site of England's most historic battle.

11 October: The deadline for comments on the Development Pool of 45 transport schemes is looming, and we don't just need your comments on the big road schemes.

11 October: Just three days left for the public to comment on where Government should spend £630 million of transport funding.

7 October: There's just one week left of the Government's 'comments period' for 45 major transport projects - have you sent your views in?

5 October: We've been unpicking council claims to have consulted on their dusty old road schemes, with shocking results...

4 October: Pip Sheard from the Transport for Greater Bristol Alliance writes about better ways to improve transport in Bristol.

3 October: Philip Hammond's 80mph 'stealth tax' would benefit the government's coffers, not drivers or the economy.

28 September: A great day in the Combe Haven last Saturday for the ‘Rally in the Valley’ against the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road.

27 September: Our analysis of the 45 final bids for the Development Pool of large transport projects is released today, along with full data

22 September: This Saturday we'll be joining the Hastings Alliance for a Rally in the Valley against the proposed Bexhill-Hastings Link Road

21 September: Our new map helps you find and comment on transport proposals in your area.

15 September: We've now received final details of all but three of the 45 local authority major transport schemes competing for funding this autumn.

7 September: On Friday the competition for £630m in transport funding, and our best chance to finally see the back of dinosaur road schemes, will begin.
 

12 August: Campaigners and councillors in Norfolk have asked the Audit Commission to investigate council money spent on a private development linked with a £120m ring road project.

12 August: Lincolnshire County Council is breaking its summer recess on Monday to vote on whether to gamble £48 million on its plans for the Lincoln Eastern Bypass.

29 July: We discovered today that Buckinghamshire County Council is taking money for road repairs by snaffling more than £2.5 million that had been earmarked for cyclists and walkers, community bus users and road safety.

26 July: Consultations have shown 63% of local people oppose the Kingskerswell Bypass, yet Devon County Council claim 72% support it. How have the council performed this conjuring trick?

20 July 2011: Friends of the Earth, Campaign to Protect Rural England and Campaign for Better Transport have teamed up with local campaigners to ask for government funding support to be withdrawn from a major road scheme near Lancaster.

7 July 2011: More evidence that councils are slashing budgets for vital public services, while ploughing yet more money into zombie road schemes…

4 July: The Liverpool Daily Post reports today on growing doubts that a viable financial deal for the proposed new six-lane Mersey Gateway Bridge will be found.

30 June: The third annual report from the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) was presented this morning.

24 June: Two consultations on controversial roads schemes in Lancashire and Kingskerswell in Devon are not going quite as they should...

4 April: The controversial Heysham M6 Link is set to be the first road scheme to go before the Infrastructure Planning Commission

8 March: Devon wants to spend £33 million on a bypass while slashing bus services. We've been trying to stop them - and Norman Baker just stepped into the fray.

25 February: Earlier this month the Government agreed to fund the Heysham M6 link road. But Lancashire County Council hasn't finished designing it!

8 February: The Public Accounts Committee has condemned the Highways Agency for wasting up to a billion pounds widening the M25.

7 February: Friday's announcement shows that the Government is running scared of telling councils that cuts to transport spending have killed off their road schemes.

31 January: It's rumoured that the Government will give the go ahead to a tolled bridge over the Mersey this week. They should consider the M6 Toll before doing so.

28 January: Next week the Government will decide whether the Kingskerswell Bypass can apply for funding. It's a test of their commitment to sustainable transport.

25 January: Norfolk County Council is about to make 750 people redundant, and has decimated its budget for walking, cycling and bus improvements. But don't worry: it's found £1.7 million for modelling a link road.

24 January: Forgive me for writing another blog about major scheme business cases. But something is rotten in the county of Lancashire.

24 January: There's a whiff of desperation in the air, as Devon CC slashes £54 million from its annual budget but promises another £21 million for the Kingskerswell Bypass.

20 January: Halton Borough Council wants to build a new bridge over the Mersey, funded by private finance. But our report shows that the tolls are going to be much higher than they're letting on.

19 January: As the price of fuel creeps steadily higher, pundits are once more calling for a fuel price stabiliser. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it.

21 December: We've long argued that road building generates traffic. Now Transport for London has shown how building the M25 affected traffic in the capital.

8 December: Councils' obsession with legacy road schemes is costing taxpayers a fortune. It's time for the Government to step in and sort this mess out.

22 November: Ever wondered how effective the M4 bus lane was at cutting congestion? We've got the answers.

19 November: The Government's spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, has just concluded a study of the M25 widening deal. Its conclusion? One and a half billion pounds wasted.

16 November: The Mottram-Tintwistle Bypass is not getting built, and neither is its replacement, the Longdendale Bypass. Just don't tell Tameside Council.

15 November: The Mersey Gateway Bridge will apparently cut CO2 emissions by 300,000 tonnes. Does that sound right to you?