Representation by High Peak Green New Deal (High Peak Green New Deal)
- Date submitted
- 14 September 2021
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
High Peak Green New Deal is both a Local Hub of Green New Deal UK and a Climate Action Group, linked to Friends of the Earth. Our goals are to decarbonise High Peak, create secure jobs, transform the economy, protect and restore nature, and promote global justice. We object to the A57 Link Roads for the following reasons: These new roads were promised to relieve congestion in Glossopdale and they will not do that. Traffic is predicted to increase, including on residential roads within the town but also in the wider High Peak, in the Hope Valley and across the Peak Park. More traffic would lead to more road danger, making it less likely people would walk and cycle for local journeys, and increasing car dependency. Government policy sees active travel as a priority ‘for our daily activities…We will use our cars differently and less often’. More traffic means more carbon emissions, at a time when nearly everyone recognises that emissions need to be reduced dramatically, to prevent runaway climate change. Over the next 8 years the UK has promised to reduce climate emissions by 68% as part of its commitment to the Paris Agreement. This scheme takes us in the wrong direction and would emit ~ 84,500tCO2 over the next two critical carbon budget periods and nearly 400,00tCO2 over the next 60 years. More traffic also means more air pollution, and more accidents. The two Air Quality Management Areas would remain in Dinting Vale and Tintwistle and more traffic will make it harder to reduce pollution to a level that does not harm human health. Accidents would increase on the wider road network within High Peak especially on the A628T and A57 Snake Pass. At the very least there should be no increase in road collisions but we should be aiming like Greater Manchester for net zero accidents. There will be no relief for Tintwistle which sits either side of the A628 trunk route. The proposed road doesn’t bypass the village. Heavy traffic of lorries, noise and pollution will continue to blight residents’ lives. With each consultation since 2017 local people have consistently and repeatedly asked for measures to relieve Tintwistle of these impacts. During the 2018 consultation, Highways England reported this as one of ‘the key concerns raised during the consultation that we are unable to resolve’. There is no commitment to any other scheme at this time. Tintwistle must not be left to endure the continuing degradation of its environment and residents’ wellbeing. A solution exists. A ban on through traffic of lorries across the Peak Park, 20s plenty, more space for pedestrians and cyclists, travel planning, and better rail and bus services would address the current situation quickly without road building and give great value for money. The applicant rejected this option without rigorous assessment; it must be properly developed now and implemented.