Tougher line on roads

Aug 15 2006 By Ross Smith, The Journal

A committee of MPs has been criticised by North business leaders after saying the Government should make it tougher to get approval for improving roads.

North-East firms are hoping plans for the A1 Western bypass, due to be published later this year, will lead to a much needed upgrade for the road.

But the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee says ministers should "deliberately apply more stringent criteria" to road building projects in order to keep carbon emissions down.

The committee's report also criticised regional funding recommendations for being biased towards road projects over public transport.

Yesterday, the North-East Chamber of Commerce, which has led the Go For Jobs campaign with The Journal for better transport in the region to help job creation, criticised the report.

Spokesman Mike Parker said: "Businesses do appreciate that good public transport has an important role to play in easing congestion. However, it's not always the absolute solution.

"In the North-East we can see a number of examples where investment in road infrastructure improvement is needed before public transport improvements can really take effect.

"There's a history of under-funding that needs addressing if we're really able to take the Environmental Audit Committee's suggestions on board."

The committee complained that allowing regions to nominate projects for funding had "resulted in a very high proportion of bids for road projects".

However, the regional funding allocations, which advise the Government on £457m of transport schemes in the next 10 years, could only be spent on major infrastructure projects. None of the money could be spent on rail and trunk roads, which are funded from a different pot.

The report did back a high speed North-South rail link, which politicians and business leaders in the region are lobbying for.

It also suggested giving cities the same power as London to regulate buses.

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The Go For Jobs campaign is backed by The Journal, the Evening Gazette, on Teesside and the North-East Chamber of Commerce.

We called on the Highways Agency to lift Article 14 notices which block developments that, the Agency says, could put extra traffic on the A1 or A19.

It achieved success when Roads Minister Stephen Ladyman promised in June that Article 14 notices should be used "very infrequently", and said a line should be drawn on two years of problems with the orders.

The campaign now calls for sensible alternative measures to ease congestion on the roads, including effective public transport systems. We also want an end to delays for upgrades to the routes.

To find out more, go to www.goforjobs.co.uk