They met protestors taking part in the high profile campaign against the road and highlighted the impacts and threats the Government's forthcoming roads strategy.
Stephanie Hilborne OBE, Chief Executive, The Wildlife Trusts, said: “How can The Treasury condone the nation spending £86m on this road scheme? The Department of Transport’s own cost benefit analysis questions its value for money, even without counting the impact on nature. The Hastings Link Road will further fragment habitats at the very time we should be joining them up - an intention expressed in the 2011 Natural Environment White Paper. Although the Treasury apparently values concrete more than it does the wildlife, ecosystems, and landscape of this country, The Wildlife Trusts believe this is short-termism at its worst.”
Andy Atkins, Executive Director, Friends of the Earth, said “This road shouldn’t have been approved. It will lead to more pollution, damage the environment and do little to boost the local economy. Reviving discredited road schemes like this won’t solve our economic and transport problems – it will simply shift traffic elsewhere. Transport policy must change direction – we need cleaner cars and safe, efficient and affordable alternatives.”
John Sauven, Executive Director, Greenpeace UK, said “If we’re to break our fossil fuel addiction and tackle the threat of climate change, we must stop throwing money at unnecessary road schemes like the Bexhill Hastings Link Road. Even the Government’s own advisors see the road as a massive waste of taxpayers’ money. We should instead be protecting our natural environment and investing in long term jobs for local communities.”
Chris Corrigan, RSPB South East Regional Director, said: “We need to invest in transport and jobs, but we also need to invest in our natural environment. We don’t have to choose between them - it is possible to invest in our future in a way that benefits the economy and the countryside. Our native wildlife and habitats deliver real long term benefits for our society. Sacrificing them for a quick economic fix is bad news for everyone.”
Ralph Smyth, Senior Transport Campaigner, CPRE said “Once treasured landscapes like Combe Haven are bulldozed, they are gone for ever. We should be protecting oases of tranquility not covering them in tarmac and traffic. How can the Government still be propping up this road scheme to the tune of millions of pounds, when even their own advisors have seen straight through the County's elusive claims of economic benefits?"
Stephen Joseph, Chief Executive, Campaign for Better Transport, said “National and local Government is planning to spend more than £30bn on 190 major road schemes. The lesson that new roads don’t solve transport problems has been well and truly forgotten. Our Roads to Nowhere campaign will be supporting local people fighting all the costly and unnecessary schemes.”
Georgia Wrighton, Director of CPRE Sussex, said: "I was delighted to join heads of environmental and conservation organisations united in their opposition to this misguided 'road to nowhere'. How can such a damaging road go ahead and be funded by nearly £100 million when the case for it is so poor?"
UPDATE
It has emerged that Department for Transport has not yet signed off funding for the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road. There is now a online petition to request that "the Government not to fund the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road as it will destroy the tranquillity and heritage of Combe Haven and smaller valleys, the probable site of the Battle of Hastings, and will not bring the claimed economic benefits." Sign it here:epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/45254
Professionally-taken high-resolution images are available on the Campaign for Better Transport page at www.flickr.com/photos/bettertransport/
For further information contact Andrew Allen, Press Officer, Campaign for Better Transport 020 7566 6483 / 07984 773 468 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
