What's happening with the A38 Expansion?
Thank you again to the supporters of our campaign and legal challenge. Without your support, the A38 expansion scheme would have felled thousands of trees, would be releasing hundreds of thousands of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere through construction, inflicting noise and air pollution on local communities and causing chaos on Derby’s road network with road work diversions and rat runs.
Despite this, National Highways still wants to push ahead with the A38 scheme, despite other more sustainable, cheaper and less destructive solutions to reducing traffic congestion. Primarily because of the pressure from housing developers who want to build on greenfield instead of brownfield plots of land near the A38 with no other decent transport connections to maximise their profit. So far, the authorities haven't managed to push the scheme through as it's incompatible with legally binding climate targets but the Government is trying to change the law to stop future legal challenges.
The story so far…
In March 2021, local Derby residents successfully stopped this destructive, polluting and pointless road scheme with a legal challenge. The Department for Transport conceded to our legal challenge as Transport Minister Grant Shapps admitted that he acted unlawfully when he approved the A38 Derby Junctions road scheme in January. Shapps conceded that his decision to approve the road expansion breached Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) regulations by failing to provide a reasoned conclusion on the development’s cumulative climate impacts with other road schemes in meeting the UK’s national climate targets.
Then in the summer of 2021, National Highways applied for another development consent order so they could begin the destructive road expansion scheme.
The Stop the A38 Campaign group submitted legal representations and an expert report in October 2021 to object to the application of a new development consent order. The history of all these events plus our last objections are on the Planning Inspectorate website.
Since our last submission in October 2021, National Highways and the Department for Transport have not responded. Despite National Highways boasting they plan to start work in the summer of 2022 regardless of the legal challenge set back. This is likely because the Government knows that the development’s cumulative climate impacts with other road schemes will fail to meet the UK’s national climate targets.
So instead of funding public better transport and active travel to reduce traffic and road transport emissions, the Government is trying to change laws and weaken environmental regulations to make it easier for them to push through nature destroying and climate wrecking road schemes.
How can you help?
Please help us challenge these attempts to weaken environmental laws in their favour.
Support this legal challenge against a road scheme which will have implications for the A38 expansion: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/stop-road-building-wrecking-climate-nature/
Respond to this Government consultation on a proposed new national transport policy: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/better-public-transport-not-more-roads
About the important legal challenge
Please help Dr Andrew Boswell by donating to or sharing his legal challenge to stop the A47 between Blofield and North Burlingham scheme (A47BNB), the first of four destructive road schemes all close to Norwich.
The case challenges the government’s unlawful approach of allowing large road schemes to go ahead without cumulative assessment of carbon emissions - a win could help ensure proper climate impact assessment for proposed highway schemes around the UK.
It is important to prevent this first scheme now by supporting this legal case. If the A47BNB goes ahead, then the A38 expansion and other road schemes may be unstoppable through legal challenges.
Tell the Government we want better public transport, not more roads!
Despite claiming to lead on the climate and nature emergencies, the Government is seeking to continue the “largest ever” road-building programme. This will increase carbon, harm nature and sever local communities. Its new national transport policy, which it hopes to adopt this year, will be pretty much legally unchallengeable once designated. So we urgently need your help to respond to the consultation.
The Government has already admitted that its new Net Zero Strategy won't deliver the cuts needed to meet the UK’s international emissions target for 2030. Unless this disastrous policy is strongly challenged, the Government will continue to expand roads and trash our environment with impunity.
Please write to the Department for Transport (DfT) today to express your concerns and call for the process to be started again.
Thank you!
from the Stop the A38 Expansion campaign group
