'Unnecessary and damaging' new motorway scheme must be scrapped

13 July 2009

Green campaigners are pressing for the scrapping of a controversial new motorway scheme, ahead of the launch of the Welsh Assembly Government's transport plan on Wednesday 15 July.

The six lane toll road, costing between £800m and £1 billion, would cut a swathe through the environmentally important and highly-protected Gwent Levels south of Newport.

Friends of the Earth Cymru, a leading member of CALM [1], has argued since the scheme was first proposed overten years ago that the road is unnecessary and unaffordable.

Neil Crumpton, Friends of the Earth Cymru transport campaigner, said:

"This expensive, unnecessary and damaging road would create more traffic at a time when we urgently need to be reducing our dependence on cars and cutting our carbon emissions.

"More road building would make us hostages to inevitable future rises in fuel and carbon costs. We believe the proposed motorway has to be scrapped, because neither our climate nor economy can afford it.

"At the moment, transport is responsible for around 20 per cent of Wales's carbon emissions[2]. The Assembly Government has already stated its commitment to reducing our carbon footprint - this now has to be backed up with a bold, coherent and sustainable transport strategy."

"Spending vast sums on building new roads is not the way to invest in Wales' future. There must be a massive shift of funding, away from a system designed around cars and lorries to one of effective, integrated public transport and rail freight networks."

NOTES

1. Campaign Against the Levels Motorway (CALM) is an alliance of organisations, community councils and local residents opposing the Gwent Levels motorway

2. The Welsh Assembly Government's 'Climate change strategy - programme of action consultation' p.26 states "The transport sector is responsible for approximately a fifth of the emissions covered by the 3% target."

For further information, contact Friends of the Earth Cymru on 029 2022 9577