Blog ARCHIVE
UN chief’s warning could have been aimed at UK
UN chief's warning could have been aimed at UK As COP27 opened in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt at the weekend, today saw the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres issue a stark warning about the lack of progress. He said that the world was on the "highway to climate hell...
Scrapping five biggest road schemes would ‘nearly halve budget deficit’
TransportXtra: Scrapping five biggest road schemes would ‘nearly halve budget deficit' New prime minister Rishi Sunak could save nearly half the Government's budget deficit by scrapping the five biggest road schemes, states campaign group Transport Action Network (TAN). Cutting other new roads in the Government's Road Investment Strategy (RIS2) would...
A66 dualling ‘poor value for money’, National Highways admits
The Construction Index: A66 dualling ‘poor value for money’, National Highways admits The Department for Transport and National Highways are ploughing on with a £1.3bn road building scheme despite formally stating that it is “poor value for money”. The upgrade of the A66 across the north Pennines will complete the...
Scrap road schemes to grow the economy
Regardless of the political comings and goings in Downing Street, there is an urgent need to stabilise the economy and to fill the £40bn fiscal black hole created by Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget. As the new Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak has renewed his commitment to Levelling Up and to economic...
Scrap roads schemes to grow the economy
Scrap road schemes to grow the economy Transport Action Network [1] has written to the new Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, to suggest scrapping expensive and damaging road building projects, which will do little to boost the economy [2]. Examining the business cases for five flagship road schemes, TAN has discovered that...
Multimillion-pound UK road scheme facing legal action on climate grounds
The Guardian: Multimillion-pound UK road scheme facing legal action on climate grounds A legal challenge has been launched against a road scheme that opponents say clashes with climate goals. Changes aimed at improving car journeys between Milton Keynes and Cambridge by upgrading junctions and building a 10-mile dual carriageway on...
Growth Plan under threat?
Growth Plan under threat from road legal challenges? Transport Action Network (TAN) [1] has lodged a legal challenge at the High Court [2] of the Government's decision to approve the A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet 'improvement' [3] part of the cancelled Oxford-Cambridge Expressway. It follows a number of previous...
Car Free Day: the chance to reimagine the future
Thursday 22nd September is World Car Free Day: a day that encourages people to get from A to B without a car. Some towns and cities make it easier than others to do this – on this special day and also the other 364 days of the year. While this...
Road to ruin for South East plan
Road to ruin as South East plan fuels climate change Transport Action Network (TAN) is strongly objecting [1] to Transport for the South East's draft Strategic Investment Plan (SIP) which is currently being consulted upon until 12 September [2]. The draft SIP outlines the transport spending priorities for the region...
Repairing our roads
Repairing our roads and public transport need to be Government priorities Transport Action Network (TAN) is calling on Liz Truss and Anne-Marie Trevelyan, her new Transport Secretary, to get the basics right [1] and repair our roads. These are crumbling after a decade of underinvestment [2] and this is a...
Taking the wrong road for climate change
With another stark reminder this summer of how quickly the climate is changing, as heat waves and drought hit Europe again and with devastating floods in Pakistan, you would expect that future plans would prioritise reducing emissions fast. In an emergency, you need radical action, not more of the same...
Fast-track to climate catastrophe
Fast-track to climate catastrophe Transport Action Network (TAN) is deeply concerned at Government proposals announced yesterday to bulldoze through new road schemes in even shorter timescales with even less public scrutiny [1]. Delivering road projects faster is said to be "essential to support…net zero" and to "enhance and protect the environment"...
National Highways “fiddling at the edges” while the planet burns
National Highways "fiddling at the edges" while the planet burns As National Highways issued its Net Zero Highways Progress Report [1], Transport Action Network compared the carbon emissions they claim to have saved with the huge increases caused by its £24 billion roads programme, RIS2 [2]. The claimed savings are...
Are we turning the corner on road building?
The recent Climate Change Committee (CCC) 2022 Progress Report to Parliament criticised the Government’s road building plans for increasing demand and emissions. It stated that they should not be encouraging unconstrained traffic growth and needed to be compatible with net-zero. Could we finally be turning the corner on road building...
Let’s come together to drive transport change
Why we are organising our first national conference We are in a climate emergency and road transport is the biggest source of carbon emissions in the UK. While the Government has set what they consider to be the ‘world’s most ambitious climate change target’, Grant Shapps has recently been approving...
JOIN OUR NETWORK
Signing up will allow you to access our monthly newsletter and the latest actions and events