Earlier this year, we posted how the "net zero" legal challenges were mounting, and how climate campaigners were "highly likely" to challenge road schemes too. This week it was announced:
The UK government’s £28.8 billion plan to expand Britain’s road network is set to be challenged by the same legal team which, in February, halted the Department for Transport’s plan to expand Heathrow.The Court of Appeal ruled Heathrow expansion plans were illegal because the Department for Transport’s plans did not meet its obligations under the Paris climate agreement of 2015.
Lawyers acting for Transport Action Network (TAN) have asked the Department for Transport (DfT) and Highways England to scrap their five-year road building plan saying it breaches the government’s legally binding commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
BREAKING: Legal Bid Launched To Stop U.K. Government’s £27 Billion Road Building Plans. Same legal team which, in February, halted the Department for Transport’s plan to expand Heathrow. https://t.co/Io8X0aoGbG— Carlton Reid (@carltonreid) April 21, 2020
Clearly, plans on such a scale no longer make sense – whatever the cries of anguish from the road-building lobby and their friends from the minerals industry.
Earlier this month, it was the boss from the AA – of all unlikely organisations – that called for investment in roads to be reassessed. This week, it was the turn of the UK government’s climate change adviser, urging ministers to reconsider plans for road-building and switch the investment into broadband, arguing that Covid-19 has taught many people they can work from home "thanks to the miracle of video conferencing":
“The government mustn’t be investing in anything likely to increase carbon emissions. I expect that video conferencing will become the new normal, and we won’t return to travelling the way we did. I would spend the roads budget on fibre. You would get a huge return to the economy with people having better connections. You would save people’s time and increase their productivity.”
Cheaper, better for the economy, and more climate-friendly to cut road expansion budget and put into broadband— Doug Parr (@doug_parr) April 22, 2020
"we won’t return to travelling the way we did"
says @ChiefExecCCC https://t.co/GPI8bVPbcF
