Case for tripling roads budget based on wishful thinking, say campaigners
New research published by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) today reveals that road-building is failing to provide the congestion relief and economic boost promised, while devastating the environment [1].
The research, the largest ever independent review of completed road schemes in England, arrives as Highways England starts consulting on which road schemes will receive funding, set to triple to £3 billion a year by 2020 [2].
Drawing on the research, CPRE’s report The end of the road? directly challenges government claims that ‘the economic gains from road investment are beyond doubt’ [3]; that road-building will lead to ‘mile a minute’ journeys; and that the impact on the environment will be limited ‘as far as possible’ [4]. The report shows how road building over the past two decades has repeatedly failed to live up to similar aims.
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