Archived press release

"ministerial myopia over midlands motorway" say friends of the earth

28 July 1997

Friends of the Earth accused Labour Ministers of extreme myopia for approving the 27-mile Birmingham Northern Relief Road today [1]. The six-lane toll motorway will have disastrous effects on the transport system in the West Midlands. Solving the problems it causes will cost far more than the £30 million in compensation payments that Ministers have saved by allowing it to be built [2].

However, Friends of the Earth congratulated Labour on scrapping the planned Salisbury Bypass and the A40 upgrade in West London and for deferring the widening of the M25 and a string of other environmentally damaging roads [3].

Roger Higman, Senior Transport Campaigner said:

"Building the Birmingham Northern Relief Road would be a monumental mistake. It will have the severest consequences for the local environment and is likely to make congestion worse not better. Ministers are being short-sighted in the extreme in giving it the go-ahead".

Commenting more generally on the Government's roads review, Mr Higman said:

"The cancellation of the Salisbury bypass and the deferment of other damaging schemes is to be welcomed, but Ministers have still to demonstrate that their actions will live up to their tough talking".

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] The Birmingham Northern Relief Road (BNRR) is a 27-mile, six-lane motorway from the M6 near Coleshill in Warwickshire to the M6 near Cannock in Staffordshire. It runs entirely through greenbelt land and damages two nationally important wildlife sites.

Transport Minister, Gavin Strang approved plans by Midland Expressway Ltd to build the road today as part of a wider announcement on 37 schemes being considered in the Government's accelerated roads review. A longer-term review of another 100 odds schemes will be undertaken over the next ten months.

[2] If built, the BNRR would increase traffic on the M6 north of Birmingham leading to further pressure to widen that section at a cost of £230 million. Both its promoters Midland Expressway Ltd and the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott admit that it wouldn't reduce congestion on the M6 within the West Midlands conurbation:

"it is unlikely that the projected traffic figures on the M6 with or without the BNRR would differ substantially"

[3] Plans to upgrade the A21, A259, A303, A650 and A65 have all been deferred until spring of next year. A decision on the M25 widening has also been deferred until next year. Friends of the Earth believes any decision on this widening should be made after a decision has been made on the fifth terminal at Heathrow.

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