Plans for a massive £28.8bn roads programme could be challenged in the courts for breaching the UK’s laws on climate change as they don’t take into account commitments on reducing emissions.
On Thursday a court ruled that plans to expand Heathrow had failed to take climate policies into account. The current value-for-money assessment was done under guidelines last updated in April 2019, when the UK was planning to cut emissions by 80% by 2050. However, two months later the target was raised, committing the UK to cutting almost 100% of emissions by the same date.
BBC News has learned that the guidelines haven’t yet been updated to take the tougher targets into account.
The absence of up-to-date guidelines means some climate-damaging road schemes may get approved, when under the new climate laws they should be rejected.
A pressure group, Transport Action Network, says its investigations suggest some road schemes are going ahead, even if they’re shown to increase emissions, whilst other schemes don’t include any data on potential carbon emissions.
“The whole system desperately needs reviewing. The assessments were done in a pre-climate crisis era. They don’t take into account the UK’s commitment to Net Zero emissions.”
The group is now considering legal action against the government.
Josh Burke from the London School of Economics said if the government wasn’t keeping guidance up-to-date there was a risk of “locking in highly polluting forms of transport” which shouldn’t technically be going ahead.
“It’s highly likely that the government will face further legal challenges if it goes ahead with road spending without having properly considered the implications for net zero climate emissions.”
The Welsh government recently scrapped a planned relief road round Newport, partly on environmental grounds. And North Somerset Council has halted the proposed expansion of Bristol Airport because it’s not compatible with net zero emissions. This is set to have a severe impact on jobs for working class people as well as the economy in general.
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