Archived press release
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Countryside commission calls for reopening of salisbury bypass inquiry
19 February 1997
Friends of the Earth today backed the Countryside Commission's call on the Government to reopen to the 1993 public inquiry into the Salisbury Bypass [1].
Friends of the Earth noted that the Countryside Commission has worked hard to develop alternative solutions to traffic problems in rural areas, including Wiltshire [2].
Roger Higman, Senior Transport Campaigner at Friends of the Earth said:
"Ministers cannot ignore this call from their official countryside and landscape advisors. The Salisbury Bypass must be stopped if a landscape unique in southern Britain is not to be bulldozed for yet another road."
NOTES TO EDITORS:
[1] Countryside Commission Press Notice NR/97/8 - 19/2/97. Mr. R G Wakeford, Chief Executive of the Countryside Commission yesterday wrote to both Mr. John Gummer, Secretary of State for the Environment, and Sir George Young, Secretary of State for Transport, to make the call.
The A36 Salisbury Bypass is one of the most damaging schemes left in the Government's trunk roads programme. If built, it would damage the East Harnham Meadows Site of Special Scientific Interest, the West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, fourteen archaeological sites and the historic views of Salisbury Cathedral.
[2] The Countryside Commission has been involved with detailed studies of transport alternatives in rural areas as diverse as Surrey, Devon, the Lake District, the North York Moors and Wiltshire.
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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust
Last modified: Dec 2008
