TRANSPORT SOLUTIONS FOR LANCASTER AND MORECAMBE
MEDIA RELEASE – MAY 2012
HEYSHAM – M6 LINK ROAD TO GO UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
As the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) (1) begins its examination of the case for and against the proposed Heysham to the M6 Link Road , the opposition has assembled a strong and what it hopes will be a persuasive case against the road.
Local campaign group Transport Solutions for Lancaster and Morecambe (TSLM) (2) has been the principal objector to the road for the past seven years, and has now completed the final touches to the arguments to be placed before the Examiner in the case. Written representations were submitted to the IPC before the 8th May deadline.
TSLM has been joined by respected national organisations Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and Campaign for Better Transport (CBT), and regional transport specialists North West Transport Roundtable (NW TAR), who agree that this road scheme is the wrong way forward, and against national policy.
TSLM and its allies have taken a wide overview of the proposals put forward by the road’s promoter, Lancashire County Council, but are placing particular emphasis on a number of specific strands of its argument against the road. Members of TSLM, its allied organisations and individual experts, have placed some of these strands under the microscope and have put forward what they consider to be a highly compelling case against the road on a number of important grounds (3) including
· failure to reduce congestion and traffic levels in Lancaster
· failure to bring the hoped-for jobs
· minimal journey time savings
· damage to the environment and wildlife,
· damaging impact on local people
· increase in harmful pollution
“£41 million per mile for a road that doesn’t solve congestion or bring jobs is not Value for Money,” says David Gate, Chair of TSLM. “This road should be rejected: there are far better alternatives that are cheaper and would really work.”
The examination by the IPC will continue over the summer and end in October.
ENDS
Notes for Editors
Further information: David Gate on 01524 63163
(1) Since April 2012, renamed the National Infrastructure Directorate (NID) at the Planning Inspectorate.
(2) Transport Solutions for Lancaster & Morecambe (TSLM) is the local campaign Group which opposes the construction of the Heysham M6 Link Northern Route, and favours instead non-damaging sustainable transport solutions for the 21st century.
(3) Representations include:
TSLM (i) Heysham Port
(ii) Economic impacts
(iii) Flood risk
(iv) Environmental Impact
CPRE: Andy Yuille (i) Landscape & Green Belt
(ii) Complementary measures
NW TAR & CBT: (i) Transport Appraisal
(ii) Traffic growth, forecasts & national policy
Alan James: Inadequate Assessment of Alternatives
John Whitelegg (i) Traffic Modelling & Forecasting
(ii) Climate Change
Tim Hamilton-Cox: Peak Oil
Jo Guiver: Sustainability
Halton Residents’ Group
Representations can be viewed at
Transport Solutions for Lancaster & Morecambe
Press Release 05 December 2011
`Lady Godiva Rides Again’
Nearly 1,000 years since her first outing, Lady Godiva will rode naked through the streets of the historic village of Halton, to say “NO to the M6 Link Road”.
She was followed by enthusiastic supporters from Halton, Lancaster and Morecambe with banners and placards, objecting to the controversial Link Road, which will bring 74% more traffic to Halton’s narrow streets.
Halton’s Godiva has the same principles as the last one, where she felt so aggrieved by her husband’s unjust taxes that she was willing to humiliate herself to get him to reconsider. Halton’s Lady Godiva was protesting against the £12 million, rising to £30 million, that the people of Lancashire will have to pay for the unpopular Link Road.
Mike Jacob, local committee chair said, “The proposed bypass will put people at risk in our narrow village streets, and will ultimately lead to the collapse of another English village with a strong sense of community”
H e added “The people of Lancashire will pay dearly for a road that will not ease congestion or bring jobs.”
For more information:
contact TSLM1952@hotmail.co.uk
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TRANSPORT SOLUTIONS FOR LANCASTER AND MORECAMBE
PRESS AND MEDIA RELEASE – OCTOBER 17 2011
Lancashire leads the way
The Heysham M6 Link Road is the costliest of all Britain 's local authority road schemes, it was revealed this week, in figures released by the Department for Transport.
At £41 million per mile, it beats its nearest rival hands down. (That's £25,677 per metre, or £648 per inch, if you prefer (1)). Second-placed Kingskerswell in Devon can only manage £19,582 per metre. (2)
Yet plans are full steam ahead to fund this top-priced scheme.
Yes, this is in the same universe as the one where councils such as Lancashire are cutting services, everything from youth services to residential care homes and many jobs, cuts that damage people’s lives.
What’s more, Lancashire County Council has earned the promise of some government funding by increasing its own contribution to £12.3 million, and accepting all cost overruns. As the transport mandarins coldly put it: Cost risk sits with the promoter.
Road schemes always go over budget. TSLM (3) has argued since last January that the real cost estimate for the HM6L is at least £17 million more than currently admitted, all of which will end up being paid by the Council. The Council’s response so far has been a deafening silence.
And even that is not the end of the story. Of 19 recently completed bypasses, the average increase in costs during the construction period is 13% (4). That would be another £16-18 million for Lancashire ’s taxpayers to find.
For cutting essential services and for spending on the country’s most costly road scheme, Lancashire leads the way.
ENDS
268 Words
Note to Editors:
For further information ring David Gate on 01524 63163
(1) Heysham M6 Link Road: Cost £123.25 million; length 4.8 kilometres.
(3) Transport Solutions for Lancaster & Morecambe (TSLM) is the local campaign Group which opposes the construction of the Heysham M6 Link Northern Route, and favours instead non-damaging sustainable transport solutions for the 21st century. See website www.HeyshamM6Link.info
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2nd August 2011
TRANSPORT SOLUTIONS
FOR LANCASTER AND MORECAMBE
PRESS AND MEDIA RELEASE
Transport Solutions for Lancaster and Morecambe (TSLM) has received support from three national groups concerned with transport issues. The support is in connection with the proposed and highly contentious Heysham-M6 Link Road (HM6L) and allegations that Lancashire County Council (LCC) “actively misled” the Department for Transport (DfT) earlier in the year over savings it claimed would be made by raising the level of Shefferlands Roundabout near Halton.
The Campaign for Better Transport has written to Transport Minister, Norman Baker, and is supported by the Campaign for to Protect Rural England and by Friends of the Earth.
TSLM is the locally based campaign group that opposes the construction of the Heysham –M6 Link Road on the northern route. David Gate, spokesman for TSLM said that the recent funding bid by the County had clearly stated that savings amounting to £7.3 million pounds could be achieved by not removing soil from the Shefferlands Roundabout. But now, says Mr Gate, the County has revealed in recent consultations that there was never any intention of removing soil from the site. Mr Gate describes this as a “phantom saving” and accuses the County Council of being so desperate to obtain government funding for the project that they misled the DfT by claiming savings that do not add up.
Mr Gate continued: “This is very bad news for people across the whole of Lancashire. In the scramble for government funding LCC agreed to double its own contribution to £12.3M AND to take on all the extra costs, cost overruns and inflation.” He added: “This could well be as much as £33.3M and it is the people of Lancashire who will have to pay.”
The total grant for all transport-related projects across the County for the next four years is £38M. The HM6L project alone will eat up most of that and, says Mr Gate: “There will be no money left for much-needed transport projects in the rest of Lancashire. At a time when LCC is cutting jobs and services this wasteful project must be stopped now.”
In a final blast at the HM6L project he adds: “Plans do exist to solve congestion and save £100 million, without building this costly and hugely damaging road that will neither solve congestion nor bring about job creation on the planned scale.”
ENDS
391 words
For further information contact:
David Gate on 01524 63163
- Letter from CBT attached.
- The Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) is the UK’s leading authority on sustainable transport. It champions transport solutions that improve peoples’ lives and reduce environmental damage. Its campaigns promote innovative and practical policies at local and national levels.
www.bettertransport.org.uk
- Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) campaigns for a sustainable future for the English countryside.
www.cpre.org.uk
- Friends of the Earth (FoE) campaigns internationally on environmental issues.
www.foe.co.uk/index.html
- Transport Solutions for Lancaster and Morecambe (TSLM) is the local campaign group that opposes the construction of the Heysham-M6 Link Road Northern Route nd favours instead non-damaging and sustainable transport solutions for the 21st Century.
www.heyahamm6link.info/
2nd August 2011