NEWS: BBC February 28, 2020
New roads face Heathrow-style court action threat
The BBC news website reports on the potential implications on government road building aspirations of the 27th February Appeal Court ruling on Heathrow expansion decision.
The Appeal Court ruled that the government’s decision to approve the expansion of Heathrow to include a third runway was unlawful as it didn’t take into consideration the latest climate commitments.
The owner of Heathrow Airport is set to appeal this decision. However, the Deptarment for Transport will not appeal.
The BBC reports “Plans for a £28.8bn roads programme could be challenged in the courts for breaching the UK's laws on climate change. The plans, due to be published next month [March 2020], don't take into account commitments on reducing emissions, the BBC has learned. They are likely to face legal challenges from environmentalists. On Thursday, a court ruled that plans to expand Heathrow had failed to take climate policies into account.
“What are the plans?
“The prime minister has promised many new roads, with infrastructure spending focused on northern England. But it is officials who make decisions over which roads are value for money and should go-ahead. They are supposed to weigh the benefits of a proposed road - for example how much time drivers will save if it is built - against the drawbacks, including the potential for increased carbon emissions.
“What is the problem?
“The current value-for-money assessment was done under guidelines last updated in April 2019, when the UK was planning to cut emissions by 80% by 2050. But two months later the target was raised, committing the UK to cutting almost 100% of emissions by the same date.
“BBC News has learned that the guidelines haven't yet been updated to take the tougher targets into account. The absence of up-to-date guidelines means some climate-damaging road schemes may get approved, when under the new climate laws they should be rejected.
“A pressure group, Transport Action Network, says its investigations suggest some road schemes are going ahead, even if they're shown to increase emissions, whilst other schemes don't include any data on potential carbon emissions. "The whole system desperately needs reviewing. The assessments were done in a pre-climate crisis era. They don't take into account the UK's commitment to Net Zero emissions," said spokeswoman, Becca Lush. The group is now considering legal action against the government.”
NEG’s view - This could provide us with another useful avenue to fight to cancel the Ox-Cam Expressway. But it wouldn’t automatically mean it can’t happen. Given Highways England’s assessment of the proposed Expressway doesn’t take into account any increase in traffic that would result from increased housing which isn’t already in Local Plans, it would try to build a case of reduced congestion and journey times, hence potentially improvements for CO2. However, if housing were built to meet the governments aspirational target of 1 million homes along the Arc (which includes those already in Local Plans) congestion would get worse and hence CO2 also. It is when housing and the Expressway are looked at together that those impacts are best seen.
You can see the full BBC report info implications for roads here.
You can see BBC report into the Heathrow judgement here.
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