Across England Regional Bodies prioritise spending on local transport schemes through a process called the Regional Funding Allocations which is currently being reviewed.
In the West Midlands a list of proposed transport schemes submitted to Government at the end of February 2009 by the Joint Strategy and Investment Board.
West Midlands CPRE was critical of the process by which this list was drawn up, and the lack of ability for local residents affected by schemes or environmental groups to challenge the information put forward by promoting authorities. We are calling for greater public involvement in future rounds of this process.
You can read CPRE West Midlands’ detailed response to the Board.
While many schemes were welcome and would help Public Transport, such as improving Metro and the Longbridge Hub, CPRE is opposes several schemes because of their potential impact on the countryside, traffic growth and CO2 emissions which lead to climate change.
The list included two controversial bypasses, the proposed Shrewsbury North West Relief Road and Hereford Outer Distributor, as well as the Brinsford Park and Ride scheme which could increase traffic rather than reduce it.
We were glad when Ministers refused funding for the Hereford and Brinsford scheme but disappointed that they continued to support the Shrewsbury road and we continue to work with local activists to oppose that scheme.
The Shrewsbury North West Relief Road: If constructed the road would cut a huge scar through a highly visible ridge of countryside overlooking Shrewsbury and could lead to further development, including housing on the periphery of the town. CPRE does not believe the level of congestion in the town merits the road. We want to see alternative approaches which support more sustainable transport modes in and around the town. Contact Shropshire CPRE for more information about how we are opposing this proposal, which even the promoters, Shropshire County Council admit is highly controversial.
Hereford Outer Distributor Road: There has been a long debate about a bypass around Hereford. All the potential options would involve areas of high landscape value and are likely to generate traffic increasing carbon emissions. A route to the East would have the added complication that it would impact on designated sites over the Lugg Meadows, where a previous proposal was stopped at Public Inquiry because of the landscape and ecological impacts. But a route to the west would also have environmental impacts over a wide area. Given the sensitive nature of the various routes we were particularly surprised that this was being considered without a clear decision on the line of the proposals from Hereford Council which can be tested for its environmental impacts. You can find out more by contacting Herefordshire CPRE.
Brinsford Park and Ride: The Brinsford site would be located in a sensitive area of the Green Belt in South Staffordshire. It is not close to the M6, which would on the face of it appear to be an important consideration.
More broadly CPRE has questioned the benefit of large Park and Ride sites in the Green Belt. We believe more emphasis needs to be placed on increasing parking at local stations where people are likely to travel less by car and the negative by products of large Strategic Park and Ride sites are less evident.
These include bypassing local stations to get to larger Park and Rides, replacing complete public transport journeys with journeys by car and public transport and transferring traffic congestion from urban areas to roads around Strategic Park and Ride sites.
As yet, there has been little comprehensive work to test the overall impact of all these factors to show whether Strategic Park and Ride or this site in particular would be beneficial overall and this should be done before it is included in any programme. To find out more about our objection to Brinsford Park and Ride contact
Staffordshire CPRE.
27.11..09 |
