Representation by Steady State Manchester (Steady State Manchester)
- Date submitted
- 5 June 2024
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I object to the proposed scheme at Simister Island Interchange. The scheme concerns one of the busiest motorway junctions in the north-west, and is already within Noise Important Areas (NIA) and Air Quality Management Areas (AQMA). Increasing capacity has been consistently shown to increase demand. Instead of increasing capacity, National Highways should be seeking to reduce demand. Instead of dealing with the severe air and noise pollution already faced by local people, this scheme would make things worse for many local residents. St Margaret's C of E Primary School is only 200m from the M62, while Parrenthorn High School is only 300m away (and a similar distance from the M60) so both will be negatively impacted by this scheme. With or without the scheme, air pollution levels, even after a likely transition to electric vehicles over the life of the scheme, will still be unacceptably high and above safe limits and in some places will be made worse. National Highways should be examining solutions that will decrease the unacceptable level of noise and air pollution caused by the existing road. As National Highways' own assessment shows, carbon emissions would be increased by 62,013 tonnes during construction, and 151,090 tonnes over 60 years due to the increased traffic. This makes it even harder for the UK to reach its legally binding climate targets when it is already struggling to do so. As a government agency, National Highways is bound by the provisions of the Climate Change Act 2008 and must therefore take this into account.