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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/13/why-tolerate-tarmac-geddon-countryside-arundel-bypass-national-park
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|---|---|
| Why tolerate Tarmac-geddon in the countryside? | Why tolerate Tarmac-geddon in the countryside? |
| (21 days later) | |
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| Mon 13 Nov 2017 18.51 GMT | Mon 13 Nov 2017 18.51 GMT |
| Last modified on Wed 14 Feb 2018 17.02 GMT | |
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| Like most motorists passing the West Sussex town of Arundel, I spent some time last week in a jam at Crossbush, one of the most bizarre road junctions ever. A child could design a better way of moving traffic into the single-carriageway A27. | Like most motorists passing the West Sussex town of Arundel, I spent some time last week in a jam at Crossbush, one of the most bizarre road junctions ever. A child could design a better way of moving traffic into the single-carriageway A27. |
| I then spent several hours in the countryside that grown-ups hope will alleviate this jam. Highways England proposes building a dual carriageway through a landscape filled with bluebells, orchids, historic hedgerows, a pond where a thousand toads gather in spring, and ancient trees where 13 of Britain’s 17 breeding bat species fly. | I then spent several hours in the countryside that grown-ups hope will alleviate this jam. Highways England proposes building a dual carriageway through a landscape filled with bluebells, orchids, historic hedgerows, a pond where a thousand toads gather in spring, and ancient trees where 13 of Britain’s 17 breeding bat species fly. |
| Engineers are now deciding between three routes, all of which destroy precious water meadows and woodland (one option obliterates a massive 24 hectares), and pass through the South Downs National Park. Trees that have been alive since the Norman conquest have less legal protection than listed buildings, and ancient woodland – designated as over 400 years old – urgently needs specific legal protection. However, Arundel’s bypass illustrates the hazards in such “conservation” designations. They simply encourage developers to let rip on unprotected land. | Engineers are now deciding between three routes, all of which destroy precious water meadows and woodland (one option obliterates a massive 24 hectares), and pass through the South Downs National Park. Trees that have been alive since the Norman conquest have less legal protection than listed buildings, and ancient woodland – designated as over 400 years old – urgently needs specific legal protection. However, Arundel’s bypass illustrates the hazards in such “conservation” designations. They simply encourage developers to let rip on unprotected land. |
| West Sussex county council favours the most southerly route, which avoids the largest incursions into the national park. But the bluebells don’t stop where woodland becomes less ancient. Nor do the rare bats, bees or butterflies. The whole of our countryside is greater than the sum of its parts, and new roads not only bring pollution – noise and light, as well as air – they fragment and isolate the species we share our world with. | West Sussex county council favours the most southerly route, which avoids the largest incursions into the national park. But the bluebells don’t stop where woodland becomes less ancient. Nor do the rare bats, bees or butterflies. The whole of our countryside is greater than the sum of its parts, and new roads not only bring pollution – noise and light, as well as air – they fragment and isolate the species we share our world with. |
| Are we prepared to trade such wealth – peace, space, clean air, dark skies, other species – for a road that will save motorists, at best, 10 minutes in 2041, before they hit the A27’s next pinch-point at Worthing or Chichester? | Are we prepared to trade such wealth – peace, space, clean air, dark skies, other species – for a road that will save motorists, at best, 10 minutes in 2041, before they hit the A27’s next pinch-point at Worthing or Chichester? |
| I once asked for directions when I was lost and was told: “I wouldn’t start from here.” So, too, with utterly futile road-building, which only drives more traffic and more pollution. | I once asked for directions when I was lost and was told: “I wouldn’t start from here.” So, too, with utterly futile road-building, which only drives more traffic and more pollution. |
| Start here instead: no new roads. | Start here instead: no new roads. |
| U-turn for Cambridge | U-turn for Cambridge |
| No new roads doesn’t mean abandoning local residents to apocalyptic jams. A fraction of the £250m-plus Arundel bypass cost could build motorway-style junctions at bottlenecks such as Crossbush. Free-flowing 40mph traffic on the existing single-carriageway is less polluting than vanity bypasses. | No new roads doesn’t mean abandoning local residents to apocalyptic jams. A fraction of the £250m-plus Arundel bypass cost could build motorway-style junctions at bottlenecks such as Crossbush. Free-flowing 40mph traffic on the existing single-carriageway is less polluting than vanity bypasses. |
| But a no-new-roads policy must persuade motorists such as me to use their cars less. Vehicles travelled 68bn miles on British motorways in the year to June, up by more than a third since the 1990s. This is disastrous for (almost) everyone. | But a no-new-roads policy must persuade motorists such as me to use their cars less. Vehicles travelled 68bn miles on British motorways in the year to June, up by more than a third since the 1990s. This is disastrous for (almost) everyone. |
| Congested Cambridge is examining proposals for a £2.8bn underground light railway to link its hi-tech businesses, which are plonked on 20th-century roads. There are questions over the scheme’s viability, but it looks much cheaper if we calculate the true cost of our car addiction. | Congested Cambridge is examining proposals for a £2.8bn underground light railway to link its hi-tech businesses, which are plonked on 20th-century roads. There are questions over the scheme’s viability, but it looks much cheaper if we calculate the true cost of our car addiction. |
| Falcons forgo fast food | Falcons forgo fast food |
| Better protected than most countryside, cathedrals are a sensible choice for peregrine falcons looking to prosper. Particularly now that towers and spires from Derby to Salisbury have been fitted with nest platforms for our fastest-moving animal. | Better protected than most countryside, cathedrals are a sensible choice for peregrine falcons looking to prosper. Particularly now that towers and spires from Derby to Salisbury have been fitted with nest platforms for our fastest-moving animal. |
| This religious patronage is a source of exasperation for the Royal Pigeon Racing Association (the Queen has 160 racing pigeons in lofts at Sandringham) and for Pigeon Racing UK & Ireland, which warns that the sport is in danger of extinction. | This religious patronage is a source of exasperation for the Royal Pigeon Racing Association (the Queen has 160 racing pigeons in lofts at Sandringham) and for Pigeon Racing UK & Ireland, which warns that the sport is in danger of extinction. |
| A UK-wide study estimates that birds of prey cause 14% of racing pigeon fatalities. A fit racing pigeon is a much less tantalising peregrine snack than the plumper, more pedestrian wood pigeons ubiquitous in my part of the world. | A UK-wide study estimates that birds of prey cause 14% of racing pigeon fatalities. A fit racing pigeon is a much less tantalising peregrine snack than the plumper, more pedestrian wood pigeons ubiquitous in my part of the world. |
| • Patrick Barkham is a Guardian columnist | • Patrick Barkham is a Guardian columnist |
| Road transport | Road transport |
| Notebook | Notebook |
| Wildlife | Wildlife |
| Transport policy | Transport policy |
| National parks | National parks |
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