Whitehall drives through opposition to approve road

05 February 2007

An independent transport consultant has discovered that the Government has approved funding for the controversial Bexhill to Hastings link road, even though a full consideration of the alternatives has not been carried out.
Dr Denvil Coombe’s report, commissioned by a local group campaigning against the £89M scheme, concluded that alternative options to unblocking the A259 through Hastings were not properly investigated in the multi-modal study which backed the scheme. This was despite government guidance requiring the consideration of non road-building solutions first.
He found that the 2002 study assessing the South Coast’s transport problems had only considered measures such as new railway stations and train services ‘as complementary to’ rather than alternatives to the road. East Sussex County Council said in 2004 that ‘a non road-based solution to the problems was rejected’ as it could not unlock the development potential of north Bexhill.
Coombe saw this as a position of ‘anything other than the link road will not meet with favour because it would not be the link road’. Campaigners against the road urged transport secretary, Douglas Alexander, to re-think the Government’s funding approval for this and other contentious road projects in light of the finding, especially given the cost hikes and new climate change predictions.
Transport 2000 executive director, Stephen Joseph, said: ‘These schemes should be shelved and proper investigation of alternatives carried out. In the light of the Stern report, the Eddington review and widespread and growing concerns about climate change, this would be a logical, wise and necessary step.’
But East Sussex council’s environment director, Bob Wilkins, rejected the ‘unhelpful’ fresh attempt to force a re-think, which followed an earlier, failed lobbying attempt to convince the-then transport secretary, Alistair Darling, that alternatives had not been sufficiently explored. Wilkins warned the Government against sending the link road back to the starting block after the authority had spent £7M developing the scheme.
‘The South Coast corridor multi-modal study report was fully approved in terms of methodology by the Government in 2003. The right time to raise these arguments is when we submit a planning application in the spring, which will provide a further opportunity to examine the merits.’ He said that while costs had inevitably gone up from the former price tag of £51M, the scheme’s benefit-cost-ratio had improved from the previous 2.4 to four, and the environmental benefits also increased. There would be ‘at least’ a 2:1 replacement of all categories of sensitive land. ‘We have worked extensively with the statutory environmental bodies, delaying the planning application submission by six months. This is a very robust scheme,’ Wilkins said.

Register now for full access

Register just once to get unrestricted, real-time coverage of the issues and challenges facing UK transport and highways engineers.

Full website content includes the latest news, exclusive commentary from leading industry figures and detailed topical analysis of the highways, transportation, environment and place-shaping sectors. Use the link below to register your details for full, free access.

Already a registered? Login

Sign In

Whitehall drives through opposition to approve road

order biaxin tablets

buying biaxin

ordering clarithromycin

Register now for full access

Login