North Lancashire based transport campaign group Transport Solutions for Lancaster and Morecambe (TSLM) has written to County Councillors across Lancashire this week, advising them of the increased liability of Lancashire’s taxpayers, and the hold on the county’s transport budget for many years to come, caused by the rapidly escalating costs associated with the proposed Heysham M6 Link road scheme if it goes ahead.
Lancashire County Council plan to build a four-lane dual carriageway through the green belt to the north of Lancaster which covers just over five kilometres between the community of Torrisholme and the River Lune. The area includes the Lancaster Canal and the River Lune (both Biological Heritage Sites) and some hedgerows and many veteran trees are home to birds, including seven protected species, and bats, including five protected species, while otters swim in the River Lune.
The plans for the road call for an embankment 6.5 metres high at the western end, rising to 12.4m to cross the railway on the left of the picture above, with the road topped by lights 10 metres high. These lights would be on all night, so the 734 houses within 300 metres of it would be more than well lit.
To the east, the A6 would be diverted and raised onto drumlins with a flyover, and a large roundabout would replace pasture.
The estimated costs of the scheme, £87.7 million in July 2005, have now risen to £134.7 million: an increase of 54% in just three years. The Government, which has not granted any funding for the scheme, has stated that, if it did make money available, it would not fund further cost increases, or the cost of any complementary measures for congestion relief for the Lancaster and Morecambe district.
A package of congestion relief measures, including park and ride, public transport improvements and changes to one way systems, has been drawn up and costed at £96 million. No money has been earmarked for these congestion relief measures for North Lancashire, nor are there any initiatives under way to implement them.
“It goes without saying that money is tight at the moment, but Lancashire County Council (LCC) is determined to press on with a controversial road building scheme, which has consequences for the county’s taxpayers and other transport projects in Lancashire, for many years to come,” said David Gate, chair of TSLM. “If it spends the money on the road, it is very unlikely that the congestion relief measures will be implemented and Lancaster and Morecambe will continue to be log jammed.
“We believe that North Lancashire’s congestion problem could be greatly relieved by
prioritising the integrated transport package that has been developed for the area, without resorting to building this road. The Link road would simply encourage more heavy goods traffic onto our roads to use Heysham port, and it would wipe out 173 acres of North Lancashire’s Green Belt, and generate 24,000 tons of CO2 in its first year of operation alone.
“It’s time for the County Councillors to re assess their transport priorities, and give North Lancashire’s congestion relief measures the go ahead. We fear that if they build the Link road there will be nothing left in the kitty to tackle our horrendous congestion, without placing an unreasonable burden on Lancashire’s taxpayers and blocking other transport plans in the County.”
Many local residents are horrified by the plans and still hope to stop the road and to develop alternative solutions that will not damage the environment, but will provide first-class sustainable transport systems for the future.
The road plan has the support of several groups, including the County Council, arguing in favour of the link on a “Northern or Nothing” ticket, completely forgetting many politicians’ previous antipathy to the Northern scheme when the Western Bypass was on the drawing board. (Skerton Labour Party was firmly against the Northern link at the time, and some Labour councillors representing the area remain unconvinced of its value).
The North West Regional Assembly (NWRA) has also backed plans for the link by putting it forward for a slice of £1.3billion being spent in the region and including in a list of the region’s top transport priorities.
• Visit the Transport Solutions for Lancaster and Morecambe website