As Dorset County Council are busy wrecking Ancient Woodland in Two Mile Coppice, destroying ancient trees, hundreds of years old in preparation for a few weeks in the summer of 2012, I thought it was worth re-capping on a few salient points made by Rebecca Lush in March 2007. She delivered a brilliant speech to the seemingly deaf ears of the DCC Planning Committee.
Explaining Natural England’s objections to the Weymouth Relief Roacd scheme, Rebecca Lush pointed out that the organization is a statutory environmental body with a duty to protect Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, including investigating proposed road schemes. She emphasized that with a limited budget Natural England could ill afford to object to road schemes unnecessarily.
Natural England contracted out the examination and analysis of the Weymouth Relief Road scheme to the research body Transport Research Laboratory. Their findings were that ‘the traffic case for the scheme did not add up – that the road simply would not work, by dumping more traffic into the town. It would actually increase congestion in Weymouth. They advised Natural England that the scheme was therefore not a justified intrusion into the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.’
The crucial point here is that Natural England’s objection is based upon hard analytic evidence undertaken by a professional and impartial body. The fact remains, that the findings of the TRL clearly state that ‘the road scheme will not work on its own terms.’
As Rebecca Lush very neatly concludes and not without a hint of irony; “The national taxpayer will be paying anywhere between £77m and £100m to destroy nationally important natural assets for a road scheme that won’t even work, and will increase traffic, congestions and CO2 in an era when we must do all we can to move towards a low carbon economy. This is irresponsible and unacceptable.”
I could not agree more – estimated in Dorset County Council’s Environmental Statement that the additional traffic generated will increase CO2 emissions by 2347 tonnes, it seems ludicrous that this scheme even got the go ahead, let alone that as I type this, the above mentioned Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty are being destroyed.
For more information and to read Rebecca Lush’s speech in full visit:
Bypass The Bypass website at: www.bypassthebypass.org
You can also register your support and/or make a donation at the above address
At the end of the day, the best way to get about for our bodies and our environment is always going to be under our own steam. Left to our own devises, who wouldn’t want to travel this way? After all in many cases the journey is as much an experience as the destination. Unfortunately for us, despite all of our time saving devises, time is always critical. We can seldom afford the luxury of walking, cycling and smelling the flowers on route . Time is very often money; we need to get to where we are going quickly, efficiently and hopefully with as little impact on the environment as we can possible get away with.
Driving in a relatively fuel-efficient car (25-30 miles per gallon) usually generates fewer greenhouse-gas emissions than flying. According to the environmental website Grist.org, a trip of around 300 miles, would generate about 104 kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO2) in a typical medium-sized car, regardless of the number of passengers. Flying that same distance on a commercial jet would produce some 184 kilograms of CO2 per passenger.
From an economical standpoint however, the high price of fuel means that it would be far more cost efficient to hop on a cheap internal flight than to drive a long distance. Of course, you would also have to factor in the time spent in restaurants and hotels along the way and of course the extra time it would take to get there.
Perhaps before over analyzing the best way to get somewhere, we should first spend some time considering exactly where we are going and why….
It has been estimated that within the next 60 years, so certainly within the lifespan of today’s generation, the impact of climate change on the South Coast of England could see a 20% increase in winter rainfall and a rise in sea level of up to 90 centimeters. Scientists also predict that the average annual temperature will be up to 4°C higher by 2080 leading to a 50% reduction in summer rainfall.
Changes to our climate on this scale will have a considerable impact, not just on our physical environment e.g. wildlife, natural resources and landscapes, but crucially on our way of life for example, public health, agricultural practices, transport, life expectancy and the local economy.
The results of these findings are nonnegotiable and uncompromising; immediate and effective action must be taken to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions or our failure to act will constitute nothing less than gross negligence.
Plans for the Weymouth Relief Road are being fast tracked in order to support the sailing events at the 2012 Olympics.
The road has long been a topic of great contention with protesters desperately trying to make their case heard. Proposed construction by Skanska, is due to commence at the beginning of 2010 and will cut a deep wound in the chalk hills of the Dorset Downs, destroy ancient woodland and of course contribute significantly to rising CO2 levels. The question is – is this damage worth it for a brief stint in the global limelight in the summer of 2012?
The website for The Campaign to Protect Rural England summarized this neatly saying; ‘So much for a “Green Olympics” when the 2012 event is used to justify environmental destruction and increased carbon emissions on this scale.’ For more info visit http://www.cpre.org.uk/news/view/386
The Skanska Construction contract is due to be completed at County Hall on Wednesday 13th June.
The organisers behind Green Momentum would like to welcome you to our website / blog. This is your forum, so please take full advantage of it. Send feedback / ideas to: ben.efatcor@greenmomentum.co.uk
It is a sorry sign of the times, but should we be surprised that the media takes such a negative stance on protesting? We at Green Momentum think it would be a wise move for protesters to watch & learn from the way that a) the media portrays protestors, and b) the police methods of ‘containing’ protestors.
Draw your own conclusions from this Sky News excerpt:
