Representation by Karen Smith
- Date submitted
- 12 September 2021
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
One of Highways England's stated aims of the Mottram bypass is to improve the reliability of the journey time along the A57 in the Longdendale area, as currently 'the delivery of goods to businesses is often delayed and the route is not ideal for commuters' (Highways England, Project Information). The implication of making it easier for goods, commuters and other vehicles is more traffic will be attracted to use the road, bringing more traffic and pollution to the area. For instance, by making it easier to drive from Glossop to the M67 this will do nothing to reduce the number of cars and lorries travelling through Glossop. Making the route more attractive for car drivers will have the opposite effect. Via the link to Woolley Bridge, the bypass of Mottram will feed even more traffic onto the road into Glossop which is already at gridlock at peak times of the day. Instead of spending £228 million on a new road, the answer to the congestion in the area is to look at a package of measures which would reduce road traffic. This could include a meaningful increase in the subsidies for rail and bus travel, a new railway station at Gamesley, looking at measures to increase local rail capacity at peak times, safer walking and cycle routes. On a national level we need policies that divert freight from the road to the rail network, an encouragement of home working, and better community planning so that people do not need to travel so often for work or shopping. We also need generous subsidies for electric cars so that the traffic that remains is less polluting. The recent IPCC report 'Climate Change 2021:The Physical Science Basis' laid bare the climate crisis, and the urgency of the need to slash CO2 emmisions if we are to have any hope of avoiding the very worse effects of the warming climate due to human activity. The proposed Mottram bypass flies in the face of the climate catastrophe that is upon us.