15 April 2008
Hello
People in North Lancashire urgently need your help. They have just one chance left to stop a disastrous new dual carriageway. The proposed Heysham to M6 Link Road would hurt all of us because it would:
- Destroy 173 acres of precious Green Belt
- Pump an extra 23,500 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere each year
- Divide and pollute communities and attract lorries
- Bulldoze wildlife havens including 11km of hedgerow
- Increase the risk of devastating floods
- Cost up to £189 million
Despite this, planning permission for the road was recently granted. Now local residents' only chance of stopping the road is to persuade the Department for Transport not to fund it. You can help them to do this, but please act quickly: the Department could make its decision any day now.
 Ask the Transport Minister not to fund this monster road
Local people have been fighting this road for many years (the picture above shows one of their 2005 events). Their campaign has always been passionate and well-run. But sometimes local people need national support, and that's where we come in.
Help us to improve our support
Another way that we help people to solve their transport problems is through our local campaigning guides, which show you step-by-step how to slow down traffic in your street, how to improve your local station, how to stop a road from being built and much more. The guides are freely available to all, so please use them and share them (by simply forwarding this email).
We'd love to know what you think of these guides - after all, we wrote them to help YOU make things better in YOUR area. If you'd like offer some comments, just email campaigns@bettertransport.org.uk and I'll send you a quick survey. Thanks!
Share support with others
Because we can't take on all local fights ourselves, we've created a forum on our website where you can post your transport problems and share good ideas for solving them. Right now, people are advising Emma on working with an unfriendly local press. Why not help Emma, or post a problem yourself?
When we work together we can change things for the better
Hundreds of people joined us in pressing the Government to consider sustainable alternatives to widening the M25, and just this month the Government partially agreed. But there are always more roadbuilding threats to defeat and more local people desperate for our help, which is why I'm asking you to consider making a regular donation. Campaign for Better Transport is a small organisation, and just £3 a month will help us to support people like those in Lancashire.
All that remains is my usual book giveaway: this month I'm feeling generous (thanks to an inbox full of congratulations on the birth of beautiful baby Jack), so I'll send Cutting Your Car Use to the first 10 people to reply to this email!
All the best
Jason Torrance
Campaigns Director
Campaign for Better Transport
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