Archived press release

Tyne tunnel: protests at start of inquiry

4 March 2003

Opponents of the controversial proposed second road tunnel under the River Tyne will demonstrate outside the public inquiry into the scheme when it starts today [1]. Friends of the Earth campaigners and local residents will display a banner reading `The new Tyne Tunnel stops here'.

The tunnel is being proposed by the Tyne & Wear Passenger Transport Authority (PTA) as a solution to the transport and jobs problems of the area. It would run adjacent to the current road tunnel, with northbound traffic using the existing road tunnel, and southbound traffic using the new tunnel. The public inquiry has been called by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who will also take the final decision on the proposal [2]

Friends of the Earth has many concerns about the proposed tunnel. Key among these are:

• Traffic increases: the new tunnel would lead to a 59% increase in traffic on the river crossing and similar rises on adjoining roads [3];

• Jobs uncertainty: The promoters cannot say how many new jobs will be created by the building of the tunnel [4]. Many of the jobs that are created will be on sites accessible mainly by car, thus aggravating current traffic problems.

• What about public transport?: the promoters have not properly considered whether public transport could solve the traffic problems, despite car ownership in the areas most affected by the tunnel being low [5].

• Conflict with Government policy: alternatives to road-building have not been considered, and the justification for the new tunnel is based on the now discredited `Predict and Provide' methodology, of predicting future traffic levels and building roads to accommodate this traffic.

• Loss of green space: access roads to the new tunnel would result in the loss of much of the only communal green space on an estate in Jarrow [6].

The proposed tunnel demonstrates the impact of transport policy on poorer communities, as illustrated in the report last week by the Government's Social Exclusion Unit on transport and social exclusion. In the foreword to this report Tony Blair wrote "I welcome the focus in this report on the effects of traffic. Deprived communities can often be the hardest hit by the negative impacts of traffic like pollution, large roads cutting through the community and accidents."

Friends of the Earth's Transport Campaigner Tony Bosworth said:

"The new Tyne road tunnel is a textbook example of what's wrong with transport in Britain. It's a badly thought-out scheme based on a discredited methodology which won't solve the area's problems. We hope that the inspector will tell the promoters of the tunnel to go back to the drawing board and come up with a real solution to Tyneside's transport and jobs problems".

South Tyneside Friends of the Earth campaigner Bryan Atkinson said:

"The time for political spin is over and the promoters of the tunnel have now got to give us hard facts. Their case is shot through with holes and uncertainties and we'll be showing these up over the next few weeks. Hopefully the new Tyne Tunnel will indeed stop here."

A full briefing on the proposed Tyne Tunnel is available on request.

Notes

[1] The inquiry starts at 10am at the Jarrow Community Centre, Cambrian St, Jarrow, NE32 3QK

[2] The tunnel is being promoted under the Transport & Works Act as it would interfere with navigation rights on the River Tyne. Transport & Works Act applications come within Mr Prescott's responsibility for land-use planning.

[3] Figures taken from paragraph 5.4.2.2 of the Environmental Statement. There will also be a similar increase in traffic on the residential/commercial Tynemouth Road on the north bank of the river. Even streets at some distance will see substantial rises: there will be over 25% more traffic on Mowbray Road in South Shields, some miles from the tunnel.

[4] The Tyne & Wear Economic Strategy forecasts that up to 79,000 new jobs could be created in the region by 2030. Although this figure is analysed in some detail in the Environmental Statement prepared by the promoters, they conclude that "it is not possible to determine exactly what proportion of this total would be achieved or how many can be attributed to the opening of the New Tyne Crossing" (paragraph 10.5.3)

[5] The Environmental Statement accepts that "some of the most economically deprived wards [in South Tyneside] are those closest to the Tyne Tunnel. These people will be dependent on effective public transport provision in order to access these job opportunities on the other side of the river" (paragraph 10.5.1). Despite this, the Environmental Statement comments that improvements to the public transport system "were considered in a `broad-brush' way and did not attempt to undertake an assessment of the economic and social costs and benefits of the measures proposed as an option in their own right" (paragraph 2.4.2.5)

[6] Residents of the Epinay Estate in Jarrow have been told that access roads to the southern entrance could come be as little as 6 metres from their houses. This will mean that much of the estate's only communal greenspace would be lost.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust