Action Briefing Oct 2003- Nov 2003
	The Newsletter of Birmingham Friends of the Earth

West Midlands News

East Meets West: by road at any rate

Here is the basis of our response to the disappointing proposals to emerge out of the West Midlands to East Midlands Multi Modal Study.

We are very concerned that this study has become essentially a road-based study. The only public transport option supported by the consultants is a bus interchange at Coleshill, Warwickshire, primarily aimed at supporting the already heavily subsidised air transport industry.

Our major concern is with the way in which cost-benefit ratios are calculated. Within this and other studies it is much easier to see a road scheme supported and a rail scheme rejected. It would further seem that such schemes are treated in isolation from the wider network; for example, the impact from a widened motorway across the countryside on the urban transport system is not considered. Widening the A38 and M42 in open countryside or providing new river crossings may seem perfectly feasible but what happens to traffic from within the urban areas trying to access the widened roads or, once attracted onto them, leaving them to reach their final destination?

This is storing up many problems for the future. Our urban road networks are already under great pressure and won’t be able to cope with the extra traffic generated by the illusion of a free flowing motorway.

The study also failed to take into account our regional responses to global climate change and the changing demography of the regions which will create different transport needs.

In conclusion, West Midlands Friends of the Earth would urge the West Midlands Regional Assembly to object strongly to the recommendations within this unambitious and, for the urban areas, potentially damaging Multi Modal Study. We would also urge the Assembly to seek clarification from the Department for Transport as to how Benefit-Cost Ratios are calculated.

We would welcome further work that would enable the original aims of the study to be achieved and for it to support the aims and objectives of the RPG 11 and the Regional Transport Strategy.

Chris Crean