Representation by Jan Davis
- Date submitted
- 20 February 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
We are in a cost of living and climate crisis. This project will waste over £10bn on a scheme that will not meet the government's Net Zero Strategy (NZS) to reach net zero by 2050. The NZS and the Transport Decarbonisation Plan (TDP) are not on track according to the Climate Change Committee, and this project will simply undermine the huge task of meeting the net zero target. The approach taken to justify this scheme is based on wishful thinking and not scientific evidence. The tools are available to the Highways Agency to carry out a proper assessment of carbon emissions but they have failed to use them as intended. In particular, the approach does not comply with the Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 which requires the cumulative impacts of the project, and associated projects, to be fully taken into account.