PRESS RELEASE

Call for English roads review welcomed

In response to today’s publication of the Climate Change Committee’s 2023 Progress Report to Parliament [1], Transport Action Network’s director, Chris Todd said:

“We welcome the climate committee’s call for an urgent review of England’s roads programme. Having spent the last three years challenging the roads programme in the courts, we feel vindicated.

“The Government’s position that it can continue with a huge roads programme while meeting climate targets has become completely untenable. It’s time for a roads reset. We need all investment to be taking us towards net zero, not making it harder to achieve by increasing traffic, concrete and congestion.”

The Report calls on the DfT in 2023 to “Conduct a systematic review of current and future road-building projects to assess their consistency with the Government’s environmental goals. This should ensure that decisions do not lock in unsustainable levels of traffic growth…”

Transport Action Network is today (Wednesday at 9:30am) appearing before the House of Commons Transport Committee’s inquiry on the Department for Transport’s draft National Policy Statement on roads policy [2]. TAN is calling for this policy to be withdrawn and for a radically different draft to be consulted upon, one that delivers net zero by setting out strict tests for road schemes while speeding up delivery of public transport, electrification and cycleways.

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Notes to Editors

[1] Progress in reducing emissions: 2023 Report to Parliament (June 2023)

[2] The House of Commons Transport Committee National Networks National Policy Statement Inquiry is hearing oral evidence on Wednesday, 28 June, 2023. The two sessions can be watched live or as a recording. TAN’s written evidence has already been published by the Committee.