Controversial plans to bulldoze a nature reserve to make way for a dual carriageway have been majorly set back.
Work to create the access road linking the Port of Liverpool and the motorway through the middle of Rimrose Valley, South Sefton, was supposed to begin in 2020, three years after National Highways announced the proposals in 2017. Now the scheme has been delayed once again due to economic struggles.
In a statement yesterday, Transport Secretary Mark Harper said inflation caused by war in Ukraine and supply chain issues due to Covid-19 were to blame for delays in a number of major road investments, including Rimrose Valley.
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As a result, the plans, which were originally included in the second phase of the government's Road Investment Strategy (2020-2025), will be pushed back to the third phase (2025-30).
Mr Harper said: "The A27 Arundel and A5036 Princess Way in Liverpool both face a range of challenges including environmental considerations and ongoing scope and design changes to ensure stakeholders’ views are fully considered. As a result, these schemes will be deferred to RIS 3, covering 2025–2030."
Other schemes earmarked for RIS 3 will continue to be developed, but may also be delayed beyond 2030, the MP added.
Following the announcement, campaigners have called on the government to "scrap these dinosaur projects".
Stuart Bennett, of the Save Rimrose Valley campaign group, said: “We welcome the news that this disastrous road proposal has been pushed back, yet again. However, if the Transport Secretary is serious about considering stakeholders’ views and the road’s environmental impact, he must surely cancel it completely. There are better, more sustainable ways to cater for the Port of Liverpool’s expansion which must be prioritised if we’re to truly tackle issues around air quality in our borough and road transport’s climate-wrecking CO2 emissions.
“National Highways is paying the price for the ‘divide and conquer’ approach it took when consulting our communities, offering two, equally unpalatable road developments. It completely underestimated the level of opposition to its plans. We are calling on everyone in South Sefton to unite in demanding better solutions to port access which protect both our green space and remove HGVs from our existing road network, improving living conditions along the existing A5036 corridor. Our local and regional political leaders are supportive of these demands and have been putting pressure on central government. Now is the time for all of us to work together to make it happen.”
Chris Todd, director of Transport Action Network, which advises road campaigns across the country, said in a statement: “To say that the A27 Arundel Bypass and A5036 Port of Liverpool Access Road both face a range of challenges including environmental considerations is an understatement. They would cause massive environmental damage and nothing short of scrapping these schemes will satisfy local people.
“It’s clear the whole programme is in turmoil. It’s time for a proper roads review as Wales has done [4]. It makes no sense to be throwing good money after bad. All these roads increase carbon emissions, when the government is already struggling to reduce emissions fast enough.
“With less than two years until an election, a new government is likely to scrap these dinosaur projects. In any case it’s going to need to revisit roads policy in the light of the current failure to decarbonise road transport quickly enough.”
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