M6 Widening

For some time the Government has been considering proposals to widen the M6 in Staffordshire and Cheshire (From Junction 11a to Junction 19) to four lanes.

CPRE has opposed these proposals because they would have a large impact on the countryside and people already living with the motorway, and because it would lead to increased commuting, longer journeys and encourage more people to move out of our cities into the countryside contrary to our Regional Spatial Strategy.

A report in 2002 (West Midlands to North West Multi-Modal Study - Midman) recommended widening the motorway, putting a modest toll on it and investing in public transport. However, the Government only pursued part of that approach which even the Government’s own consultants admitted would not solve the problems.

The Midman report also said that widening would increase carbon dioxide emissions, adding to the impacts of Climate Change.

Since then the cost of widening increased from £670 million to £3 billion, making it the countries most expensive current road proposal. If half of that money was diverted to public transport it could dramatically improve our bus network or provide several new metro lines which would be better for the environment and more consistent with the spatial policies we are pursuing.

And if national road pricing was introduced, the Midman analysis suggested that a toll of 10p per mile on the motorway would reduce traffic enough that widening would not be needed.

That is why we argued for the proposals to be scrapped and the money diverted to more sensible uses which improve transport, reduce climate change and support our Spatial Strategy.

The Highway Agency’s business plan was delayed several times and in 2007 the Government announced that it would be considering Active Traffic Management (ATM) as an alternative to widening of some motorways. More recently regional and national documents have referred to improving the M6 but not specifically widening. CPRE had welcomed this change of approach but would have to examine any specific proposals in more detail. And we remain concerned that ATM is only a stop-gap. We want to see a commitment to reduce traffic overall. You can read our press release.

Additional M6 downloads

M6 Toll Widening Questions and Answers (22/07/04) (Word)

15.01.09