Photo by Marta Lefler.

National media attention for BHLR

The headline in a recent Independent on Sunday article states : “George Osborne digs himself a hole : ‘Uneconomical’ roads to get go-ahead”. The IoS‘s journalist, Jane Merrick, goes on to report on the Department for Transport’s analysis of the Bexhill Hastings Link Road and how money should be spent on repairing existing roads, not building new ones, writes HOT’s Zelly Restorick.

“George Osborne pushes ahead with a massive nationwide road-building programme”, writes Merrick in her article, “despite high level concerns from ministers and Department for Transport officials that there is little evidence it will boost the economy.” She also states that the department hadn’t been given the time to investigate ‘alternative less environmentally damaging plans’.

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According to a report by the Campaign for Better Transport, the new road-building scheme – of which the BHLR is the first – will cost an estimated £30 billion, including 772 miles of road construction, the distance from the Shetland Isles to the Isles of Scilly. This project will affect 395 sites of specific scientific interest, 234 wildlife sites, 54 ancient woods, seven areas of outstanding natural beauty, four national parks and three national nature reserves. A plan which ignores analysis showing that road use has steadily fallen for the past five years and predictions that, even when the economy improves, this decline will continue.

As an alternative to building new roads, money could be spent on repairing the existing ones, Merrick reports, stating that there is already a backlog of £10.5 billion worth of repairs to roads in this country. This suggestion links to President Barack Obama’s ‘Fix It First’ programme announced earlier this year in his State of the Union address, where economic growth is stimulated and jobs created by repairing existing infrastructures before embarking on building new ones.

Constructing a new road may well have been a good idea at one point, but surely it is a questionable use of resources at this point in time, when the concentration of climate warming carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has now passed the 400 parts per million level for the first time in human history. Scientists around the world warn of chaotic and disaster level consequences as a result of this rise, which is already having devastating effects on humans, habitats and other species around the planet.

According to another report in The Independent, a coalition of the world’s largest investment fund managers, who control £13 trillion of assets worldwide, have called on the UK government to step up its commitment to low carbon emissions. This is part of a wider campaign to persuade the world’s largest economies to escalate their actions against climate change. Interestingly, Gregory Barker, Minister of State for Climate Change, MP for Bexhill and Battle and firm supporter of the BHLR, declined to comment on Merrick’s report.

The Independent also reports on George Osborne’s family connections and why he might be undermining the Conservatives’ claim three years ago to be the ‘greenest government ever’.

Photo by Combe Haven Defenders

Locally, determined campaigners continue to peacefully protest against the link road, making their presence known at the Jack In The Green festival and the local road-building exhibitions in Sidley and Bexhill.

Report on carbon emissions here.

For related articles in HOT, please type ‘Bexhill Hastings Link Road’ into HOT’s search engine.

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