Scotland’s Government is being urged to put a stop to its “climate wrecking” roads programme which sustainable transport alliance Transform Scotland warns is at odds with the country’s commitment to reduce emissions.
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A new report from the group says that despite promises to tackle the climate emergency, spending on new roads is set to almost double over the next decade, while recent history suggests costs are only likely to escalate further on projects as they are implemented.
The ‘Roads to Ruin’ report adds that the Scottish Government has many good transport policies and targets, but the vast majority of actual spending is going towards increasing road capacity.
“Despite there being no progress in cutting climate emissions from the transport sector in 30 years, the Scottish Ministers’ capital investment plans for transport are horribly skewed towards new climate trashing roads,” said Transform Scotland director Colin Howden. “We urgently need to switch investment from high carbon roads into zero emission public transport and active travel.”
This follows a commitment by the Scottish Government to reduce road traffic levels by 20% over the next decade.
The report also criticises the current appraisal system for transport projects, which it says is heavily biased towards the value of ‘time saved’. Colin Howden added: “The case for new roads was built on forecasts of unceasing growth in road traffic. But this is now an outdated and unsustainable approach.”
Responding to the report, a Transport Scotland spokesman said that a sustainable investment hierarchy set out in Scotland’s National Transport Strategy “is clear that we will not build infrastructure to cater for forecasts of unconstrained increases in traffic volumes”.
The spokesman added: “All major projects within the Scottish Government’s transport portfolio are subject to significant assessment work to ensure we deliver the right schemes and minimise impacts on the environment.
“We need to balance the extensive changes required to meet a target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions with our duty to ensure that Scotland has high quality infrastructure to meet the needs of all our residents, businesses and visitors.”
The Transform Scotland report comes after Wales announced a pause on new road building projects while a review is carried out to consider how spending could be focused more on maintaining roads and investing in alternatives to driving.
In England, the Government has announced plans to review the National Policy Statement for National Networks which underpins its strategic road building programme, to take greater account of commitments on climate change.
(Photograph: Transport Scotland)
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