Archived press release

Newbury Bypass Set to Open. Bypass marked change in Government roads policy says FOE

17 November 1998

The controversial Newbury bypass - expected to open in the next few days - will be an “ineffective and environmentally destructive waste of money” says Friends of the Earth.However, the campaign against the building of the road was a major factor in changing Government attitudes to road building. Since work started on the bypass in January 1996,over 130 road schemes have been scrapped and over 60 shelved saving the taxpayer billions of pounds.

The 8.5 mile dual carriageway:

• has caused enormous environmental damage. It crosses and damages four Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs); a number of sites of local importance for wildlife including a local nature reserve; a registered Battlefield (1643, Civil War,First Battle of Newbury); an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (the North Wessex Downs AONB) and twelve sites of archeological importance [1].
• will only provide limited traffic relief for Newbury. Calculations from Highways Agency data show that less than a fifth of the traffic in Newbury is through traffic likely to use the bypass. Also, if the bypass generates new development (see below)and therefore traffic, the relief for Newbury may be even more short-lived.
• will only knock about two minutes off most through journeys. A Highways Agency report concludes that “for the majority of traffic, the time savings to individual vehicles will be relatively small” [2].
• will attract development to the bypass area. A proposal to build a massive warehouse and distribution depot on a 60 acre greenfield site near The Chase junction of the bypass and the A343 Andover Road has been submitted by a developer.
• will prove to be a waste of money. The money spent on the bypass - believed to be in excess of £100 million - would have been better spent on alternatives such as traffic reduction and investment in alternative modes of transport.
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• Over 130 road schemes have been scrapped by successive Governments. In November 1996, Sir George Young removed 110 schemes from the National Roads Programme. In July 1997, John Prescott dropped three more as part of his'accelerated review' of the roads programme. He dropped another 18 (and shelved another 63) during the full roads review which was announced in July 1998. There are now only 37 schemes in the Government's forward programme - around 22% of the number in January 1996.

• The Government has published a Transport White Paper “A New Deal for Transport” which recognises that: “our road network is largely complete” [4.38] and that: “simply building more and more roads is not the answer to traffic growth.'Predict and Provide' didn't work” [1.3].

• The Government has published a Roads White Paper which aims to “end the discredited 'predict and provide' approach which encouraged traffic growth by expanding road space to meet demand without sufficient regard to wider considerations” and “move away from an exclusive reliance on road-building and place much greater emphasis on finding other, more sustainable ways of tackling traffic problems” (DETR Press Notice 661 31 July 1998).

• Parliament has passed two Road Traffic Reduction Acts - drafted by FOE, the Green Party and Plaid Cymru - which require first local authorities and then the Secretary of State to publish plans for traffic reduction.
  
  Tony Juniper, Policy and Campaigns Director at Friends of the Earth said:
  “The Newbury bypass will go down in history as an ineffective and environmentally destructive waste of money. Newbury certainly has a major traffic problem but building this bypass was not the answer. The money spent destroying some of the finest countryside in southern England could have been far better spent in investing in other measures to reduce traffic in Newbury such as traffic calming, public transport and better facilities for walking and cycling.
  
  However, the campaign against the Newbury bypass marks a watershed in transport policy. Since work started on the bypass over one hundred roads have been scrapped by both Conservative and Labour Governments saving the tax payer billions of pounds. The challenge for the Government is to reduce road traffic by getting people out of their cars and into alternatives, and not repeat recent mistakes such as giving the go-ahead to the Birmingham Northern Relief Road and the widening of the M25 near Heathrow.”
  
  NOTES TO EDITORS:
  [1] The bypass crosses and damages four SSSIs: Snelsmore Common; the River Kennet and the River Lambourn and the Kennet Flood Plains (previously home to the Desmoulin's whorl snail, discovered during construction of the bypass).
  [2] A34 Newbury bypass Review Working Paper - Induced Traffic: Highways Agency.
  

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust