New bypasses have taken a wrong turn, say conservationists

Conservationists have called for stricter rules on bypasses and more emphasis on alternatives to new highway construction after studies of recent road schemes revealed significant adverse impacts.

Researchers commissioned by the government's own rural adviser and a leading rural pressure group studied three controversial major road schemes - the A27 Polegate Bypass near Eastbourne, the A34 Newbury Bypass in Berkshire and the M65 Blackburn Southern Bypass in Lancashire.

For all three schemes the researchers found above average traffic growth, increased development pressures on undeveloped land nearby and what they described as "significant" damage to landscapes, including in one case an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

At Newbury and Polegate the new roads did reduce town centre traffic but the decrease was not as much as originally forecast, while traffic increased on the new bypasses and on other local roads.

The research was carried out on behalf of the Countryside Agency (CA) - due to become part of the new organisation, Natural England - and the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

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.

The studies recommended stricter rules governing bypasses to prevent both infill development (between the bypass and the urban edge) and new car-dependent development on surrounding greenfield areas.

Graham Garbutt, chief executive of the CA, 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."

CPRE chief executive Shaun Spiers said: "New roads damage the countryside and the wider environment… We must learn from past mistakes, but so far as road building is concerned this study shows we’re continuing to repeat them."

Countryside Agency

Campaign to Protect Rural England

Roger Milne

6 July 2006