Natural England

New roads: The damage done and the lessons unlearnt - 3 July 2006

Researchers studied three controversial major schemes of recent years – the A27 Polegate Bypass near Eastbourne, East Sussex, the A 34 Newbury Bypass in Berkshire and the M65 Blackburn Southern Bypass in Lancashire.

They found traffic on these roads had now reached or exceeded the levels forecast for the year 2010. [4] And extra traffic – over and above the gradual increase happening everywhere – had flowed onto local roads as a result of the schemes, undermining the claim that the bypasses would reduce congestion.

Their study is one of the first to look at what actually happens once roads have been built. For all three schemes, there was above average traffic growth, increased development pressures on undeveloped land nearby and significant damage to landscapes.

Yet these important issues are not being picked up by the Highways Agency’s own post-construction analysis for new road schemes. The study concludes that Government is failing to learn the lessons which could lead to better transport policies and decisions.

The researchers looked at what was claimed for the road schemes at the planning and justification stage and what actually happened once they were built – in terms of traffic flows, landscape and noise impacts and new development nearby.

At Newbury and Polegate the new bypasses did reduce town centre traffic. But the reductions were not as much as originally forecast, and traffic has since increased on the bypassed roads. And in the Polegate corridor, traffic had grown by 27% one year after opening – implying that the bypass has brought large amounts of additional traffic onto local roads.

Meanwhile, town centre shops in Polegate suffering from losses in trade have been campaigning for signs to be installed on the bypass directing traffic back into town!

Yet overall in the east-west Polegate corridor, traffic had grown by 27% one year after opening – implying that the bypass has brought large amounts of additional traffic onto local roads.

Newbury has also seen rapid traffic growth, with most of the freed-up space on the old, by-passed road being taken by new traffic attracted by new development.

The researchers found the three schemes caused serious and permanent damage to rural landscapes, including an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. [5]

The money spent on evaluating road schemes is only 0.1 per cent of the money spent on building them, and many of the evaluations carried out have yet to be published. [6]

CPRE Chief Executive Shaun Spiers said: ‘New roads damage the countryside and the wider environment. They blight favourite views, and their noise can carry for miles. We must learn from past mistakes, but so far as road building is concerned this study shows we’re continuing to repeat them.’

Graham Garbutt, Chief Executive of the Countryside Agency, said: ‘We need to be sure that the effects of building new roads over the countryside are fully understood, learning from schemes already built and using the lessons. This report provides key recommendations for making this happen.’

Among those recommendations are:

• Post-construction evaluation schemes for roads to have a stronger influence on transport policy and road investment decisions, by being published promptly, widely disseminated and discussed and clearly responded to.
• More weight given to landscape and environmental impacts in the decision-making process for road schemes.
• A major, strategic Government study of the extra traffic resulting from all road schemes completed in the past decade and the resulting environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas emissions.
• Alternative approaches to be seriously investigated before new roads are built, such as improvements to public transport and facilities for walking and cycling.
• Stricter rules governing bypasses to prevent infill development (between the bypass and the urban edge), new car-dependent development on greenfields and increased car use. 

- END –

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. Beyond Transport Infrastructure by Lilli Matson, Ian Taylor, Lynn Sloman and John Elliott, published by CPRE and the Countryside Agency (CA). A summary report is available from CPRE’s Press Office. The full report is being posed on CPRE’s website, www.cpre.org.uk/publications/index.htm, and on the CA’s website at www.countryside.gov.uk/LAR/Landscape/PP/planning/research.asp.
2. CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, is a charity which promotes the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England. We advocate positive solutions for the long-term future of the countryside. Founded in 1926, we have 60,000 supporters and a branch in every county. President: Sir Max Hastings. Patron: Her Majesty The Queen.
3. The Countryside Agency is the statutory body working to make the quality of life better for people in the countryside and the quality of the countryside better for everyone.  It is a non-departmental body sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The Agency is changing - more at the end of this news release.
4. The Highways Agency forecast for the A34 Newbury Bypass, completed in 1998, was 30,000 to 36,000 vehicles per day (averaged throughout the year) by 2010. The actual level measured in 2004 was 43,800. Meanwhile peak-time congestion within the town is back to original levels. For the M65 Blackburn Southern Bypass, opened in 1997, the Department of Transport forecast 41,000 to 51,000 vehicles per day in 2010. The actual traffic level in 2004 was 52,452. As for the A27 Polegate Bypass, the average annual weekday traffic soon after the opening in 2002 was 23,500 per day but by April 2005 it had risen to 30,157 – a 28% increase, equivalent to 9% annual growth. The projection for 2010 for this bypass was that there would be 32,100 vehicles per day in 2010, but this was based on the assumption that another section of new road linked to the bypass would be open by then (which, in itself, would have added further traffic). In fact, in April 2005 there were 30,157 vehicles per day - so traffic is now approaching the forecast 2010 level, even without this section of adjoining road.
5. The North Wessex Downs AONB near Newbury. The Countryside Agency has recently (March 2006) published a discussion note which shows, using case studies, how the impact of new roads on landscape can be greatly reduced through careful design, construction and mitigation.
6. In 2004/2005 the total cost of evaluation for the Government’s Highways Agency was only 0.1% of the £507 million spent on trunk road improvements. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

Countryside Agencypress office

Matthew Heard
01242 533476 (direct)
07900 608168 (mobile)

Beth Rose
01242 533306 (direct)
07900 608052 (mobile)

Kathleen Covill, CA Senior Policy Adviser
020 7932 5905 (direct)
07900 608194 (mobile)

CPRE

Neil Sinden (Director – Policy)
020 7981 2800 (switchboard)
020 7981 2831 (direct)
07739 332795 (mobile)

Nick Schoon (Director – Communications)
020 7981 2800 (switchboard)
020 7981 2816 (direct)
020 8290 6822 (home)
07739 332796 (mobile)

Nicola S. Frank (Press Officer) 020 7981 2880 (press office)

Lilli Matson, lead author of consultants’ report 00 33 6 73 42 56 00

Lillian Burns, CPRE regional/local media contact for Blackburn/Lancashire       01625 829 492

Peter Mumford, CPRE regional/local media contact for Polegate//East Sussex  01323 739134

The Countryside Agency is changing as the result of Defra's Rural Strategy 2004 and the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006, which will:

• form a single new body - Natural England - that will integrate the Landscape, Access and Recreation division of the Countryside Agency with English Nature and most of Defra's Rural Development Service (RDS).  Natural England will work for people, places and nature, with responsibility for enhancing biodiversity, landscapes and wildlife in rural, urban, coastal and marine areas; promoting access, recreation and public well-being, and contributing to the way natural resources are managed - so that they can be enjoyed now and by future generations.
• establish the Commission for Rural Communities that will act as a rural advocate, expert adviser and independent watchdog, with a particular focus on disadvantage.  Currently operating as a division of the Countryside Agency, the Commission will become an independent body.