manchester foe logo

Plan for people not cars…respond to the consultation on the Major Roads Network (Campaign for Better Transport)

take action

The Government is consulting on defining a Major Road Network (MRN), identifying the busiest A-roads in the local authority network, and then targeting extra investment at them. The current proposals limit the MRN spending to road projects over £20 million. By focusing almost exclusively on roads, they miss the opportunity to invest in many high quality smaller schemes that could help the existing roads work better, by cutting overall traffic. They also exclude road maintenance which is desperately in need of more funding.

While we welcome broadening the Government’s proposed Roads Fund to include local authority roads, we are concerned that limiting it to projects like big new bypasses and road widening will neglect the most important priorities, and could actually make transport worse. We know that building roads adds to traffic and moves the jams down to the next bottleneck. Integrated packages will do more to solve local congestion while helping councils cut CO2 and reduce air pollution.

We want councils to be able to use this vital funding to support a ‘fix it first’ approach, reducing the £12 billion local road maintenance backlog, improving safety, while also funding local packages of transport measures, including improvements to public transport, walking and cycling.

Join our call for a network designed around people not cars

Please ask the Government to change the criteria for MRN funding to include smaller schemes and schemes that will help the road network by cutting traffic.

Campaign for Better Transport have created a template message which you can send as it is or edit as you wish. Go to website.

Deadline Monday 19th March.

 

Find us on

Facebook

Support Us

Donate or join us using a standing order or PayPal.

Twitter @foemcr