Blog ARCHIVE
Complaint filed about National Highways’ behaviour over Lower Thames Crossing
Transport Action Network (TAN) yesterday filed a formal complaint to the regulator of National Highways (NH), the Office for Rail and Road (ORR), about National Highways’ inappropriate attempts to influence the decision making process for the £9bn Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) [1]. Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh, has a critical decision...
Lower Thames Crossing Failings Exposed in Expert Report
Lower Thames Crossing Failings Exposed in Expert Report With the UK Government imminently expected to take crucial decisions on the Lower Thames Crossing (LTC), Transport Action Network (TAN) today released a devastating independent report into the legacy Conservative scheme which it has submitted to Labour’s Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh MP....
Government urged to save money and boost growth by cancelling Conservative road schemes
Government urged to save money and boost growth by cancelling Conservative road schemes Transport Action Network (TAN) today published its submission to the urgent review of the UK Department for Transport’s infrastructure capital spending portfolio, commissioned by Transport Secretary Louise Haigh MP. The review was launched on 30 July, the...
Rishi Sunak’s claims on £1.5bn A66 are wrong
Rishi Sunak’s claims on £1.5bn A66 are wrong Transport Action Network (TAN) today responded to Rishi Sunak’s lobbying for the £1.5 billion A66 Northern Trans Pennine scheme in his Richmond and Northallerton constituency [1]. The project would dual the remaining sections of single carriageway on this route. Mr Sunak claimed...
National Highways accused of wasting public money ahead of infrastructure review decisions
National Highways accused of wasting public money ahead of infrastructure review decisions Transport Action Network (TAN) has today accused National Highways of wasting public money ahead of a review of road projects by Transport Secretary Louise Haigh [1]. TAN has received reports from communities across England that National Highways is...
Rail and urban transport report welcomed
Rail and urban transport report welcomed Transport Action Network (TAN) [1] is welcoming the publication yesterday of the Rail and urban transport review, led by Juergen Maier CBE [2]. The review was commissioned by Labour when in opposition, to help the UK deliver the rail and urban transport infrastructure for...
Large road schemes in the Transport Infrastructure Review
On 30 July 2024, the Transport Secretary Louise Haigh announced a Transport Infrastructure Review. This will include all road schemes in National Highways' roads programme, many of which are unaffordable and outdated, trying to solve 20th century problems. The funding would be better used for vital rail freight, public transport...
Filling the holes
Rachel Reeves might have a huge hole in the country’s finances to plug, but road users are rightly concerned about the large number of potholes that need filling. The latest findings from the RAC’s annual survey shows that the majority of drivers are fed up with the state of Britain's...
Lower Thames Crossing Myths and Facts
(click on a Myth to take you to more detailed evidence below) MythsFactsIt would relieve traffic at the Dartford Crossing by 20%Any reduction in traffic at Dartford would still leave it over capacity - 20% is a meaningless figure. In nearly all instances any relief would last for less time...
Pause on unaffordable road schemes welcomed
Pause on unaffordable road schemes welcomed Transport Action Network (TAN) [1] is welcoming the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves’ likely announcement this afternoon to pause a number of large road schemes due to a lack of funding [2]. Reeves is quite correct to seize control of spending on unaffordable major road projects...
King’s Speech Analysis
Labour has hit the ground running since the election in July. Forty Bills were announced in the first Kings Speech of this Parliament, setting a challenging timetable. It will be interesting to see whether the new Government can keep up this pace and deliver. In terms of surface transport, there...
Bridge infill scandals
When British Rail was broken up for privatisation, its assets were dispersed amongst various players in the rail industry or flogged off, often with little thought to their wider value or importance. For some bizarre reason National Highways, a company solely focussed on maintaining and developing the strategic roads network,...
Healthy travel is good for wildlife
This blog is part of our healthy travel choices series. Previously, we looked at road safety and giving children more freedom. Here, we are focusing on how healthy travel helps wildlife. This is very timely given the Restore Nature Now march on 22 June in London and elsewhere around the...
Comparing Party Manifestos on Transport
In this blog, we try to look under the skin of each party’s manifesto to work out what they are really saying while comparing them where we can to the other parties. While there are some expected differences such as on road building, there is a surprising amount of commonality...
Plan for Drivers revelations
From active travel to backing drivers With Conservatives announcing a “Backing Drivers Bill”, it’s time to shed light on how ministers went from strong support of healthy travel to hindering it in a matter of months. While excerpts of these ministerial briefings have been quoted in the media, they have...
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