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    • The Missing Politician of Arundel & South Downs

      16th Oct 2022
      I had always thought that in a constitutional sense the letters ‘MP’ stood for Member of Parliament. Someone who would represent the people of a constituency in the House of Commons and across various Government Departments with their concerns when the constituents had a legitimate and justifiable reason for doing so. Well, it would se...Read More...

      Bats blow the whistle on National Highways

      3rd Aug 2022
      *** 16 out of the UK's 17 species of bats are threatened by the Arundel Bypass severing their habitats *** From MySociety: Release the bats Posted byHelen Cross26th May 2022 Posted in Transparency, WhatDoTheyKnow    Comments Offon Release the bats   Our Freedom of Information service WhatDoThe...Read More...

      National Highways: on the wrong side of history

      24th Jan 2022
      The Arundel Bypass Consultation Our communities’ opportunity to participate in National Highways’ long anticipated consultation process on the proposed Arundel bypass began in earnest on 11th January. This weekend I went along to Walberton Village Hall to see what National Highways had to say about the route. As one would expect, ...Read More...

      Highways England terror robots in Race to Destroy

      20th Jun 2021
      Highways England (HE) have been destroying swathes of crops, and putting in place robotic security units in fenced compounds, in multiple locations along the 8km route of the proposed Arundel bypass.   If you approach, they play a loud recording saying ‘Warning!   This is security!   Your presence has been detect...Read More...

      Fake News by Highways England

      14th May 2021
      Highways England carries on with its usual shower of inaccurate statements and euphemisms about their A27 Arundel Bypass Grey route in its latest document.  This ‘Scoping Report’, on the Planning Inspectorate website, outlines the scope of the coming Environmental Impact Assessment.   All their 'fake news' contrib...Read More...

      Can the voice of reason halt the road-builders’ runaway juggernaut?

      22nd Apr 2021
      In this guest blog, Chris Bicknell guides our readers through some of the issues explored by other writers on our webpage ‘The Case against a Big Bypass’. Highways England is out of date on traffic data, climate change and transport alternatives What stands out when sifting through Highways England (HE)’s somewhat impenetrable &...Read More...

      What’s wrong with Highways England’s ‘Scoping Report’ on Arundel bypass impacts

      31st Mar 2021
      Highways England’s ‘Scoping Report’ about the Arundel Bypass Grey route, is now on the Planning Inspectorate website.  This document sets out how Highways England intend to go about their Environmental Impact Assessment.  Click here to read for yourself, or read on ... The Scoping Report explains how Highways England ar...Read More...

      Government Roads Policy and Climate Change

      13th Feb 2021
      Fine Words, No Action Many organisations fighting the Climate and Biodiversity Emergencies point out that the UK Government’s road-building programme should stop.   For instance, Green Alliance, ‘an independent think tank and charity focused on ambitious leadership for the environment’, said in November 2020: &lsq...Read More...

      And now for some better news

      12th Feb 2021
      THE GUARDIAN     12 February 2021 https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/11/27bn-roads-plan-doubt-shapps-overrode-official-advice £27bn roads plan in doubt after Shapps overrode official advice Exclusive: transport secretary dismissed guidance calling for review of environmental impact UK government’s own c...Read More...

      Government must stop destroying what it claims to cherish

      28th Dec 2020
      Government policy seeks to protect the environment, villages and parish churches.  When will the Department of Transport heed those fine words?  When will it stop putting bypasses through precious heritage and landscapes? Where has UK Government claimed to cherish our natural and rural heritage?  Government policy papers in r...Read More...

      Star letter to Secretary of State for Transport

      5th Dec 2020
      Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP, Secretary of State for Transport Great Minster House, 33 Horseferry Road, London SW1P 4DR 29th November 2020 Dear Mr Shapps, Thank you for your department’s reply in regard to my letter on the 15th November, ref 319621. I would like to raise some additional points, and have some further questions based upon the inf...Read More...

      Why the A27 Arundel Bypass Grey Route is not good Value for Money

      22nd Nov 2020
      Article written collaboratively by local residents who have been studying these issues   The benefits of building a new major road are assessed, according to Department for Transport guidelines, in terms of shorter, safer, faster and more reliable journey times for more drivers.  So the more extra traffic Highways England decide to pre...Read More...

      Does Highways England think nothing is sacred?

      16th Nov 2020
      St Mary’s church at Binsted is a sacred place.    As well as the faithful congregation for the church services, people come here to meditate, sitting on the bench by the south wall with their faces in the sun.   They enjoy the peace and quiet, the open views up and down the valley and into the wooded countryside, and ...Read More...

      "The A27 Arundel Bypass must be cancelled" - Professor John Whitelegg

      29th Oct 2020
      “Those who promote schemes like the A27 Arundel bypass are promoting a failed intervention that will not achieve its objectives, a costly and highly wasteful use of public money and an option that will make the climate emergency worse.  The A27 Arundel Bypass must be cancelled immediately, and the funding retained in that geographical ar...Read More...

      Natural England says Arundel bypass ‘area is extraordinary’

      27th Oct 2020
      Highways England have announced a route for the Arundel bypass which passes through three villages, with a far worse effect on communities than any of the other routes.   HE will be hoping that their terribly damaging scheme will be approved because it is outside the National Park, which is protected in planning law. But Natural England ...Read More...

      Coronavirus, the Climate Emergency, and the Arundel Bypass

      17th Jun 2020
      Our ABNC Secretary writes: The charity ‘Sense about Science’, in a new initiative about the government’s use of evidence, offered an opportunity to update the 90-second speech which I gave as part of an event they held at the Houses of Parliament in 2018, with many citizen speakers.  This is my updated version. Evidence is...Read More...

      Heathrowgate: Climate change must change the Arundel Bypass too

      1st Mar 2020
      The government’s decision to expand Heathrow Airport has been ruled ‘unlawful’ by the Court of Appeal, on climate change grounds. This decision may point to a new way to save Arundel’s countryside from the current very damaging A27 bypass proposals.   Jenny Bates of Friends of the Earth said: ‘The Court has ...Read More...

      Tell Highways England, part-patching shoddy work does not excuse a bad scheme

      12th Feb 2020
      Highways England has sent letters to many who responded to the 2019 consultation (though not to all), asking them to fill in a new survey form if their opinion has changed as a result of corrections to the shoddy workmanship of its 2019 consultation information.   The online survey form is designed for previous respondents who h...Read More...

      Natural England slates A27 Arundel Bypass proposals

      28th Nov 2019
      The area threatened by the offline routes for the A27 Arundel Bypass is of extraordinary and exceptional ecological and landscape value, say Natural England in their 24 October 2019 response to Highways England's Further Consultation. It’s a long and detailed report, as befits the scale of the issue.  For a flavour of it, check out t...Read More...

      All Arundel bypass routes too damaging

      2nd Oct 2019
      On 1st October, the South Downs National Park Authority decided its response to Highways England's consultation on six high speed dual carriageway options for an Arundel bypass.   None of them, as presented, could be supported; it was not clear whether any possible mitigation could make them supportable.   The landscape ...Read More...
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