ACTIVISTS marched a kilometre through Sheffield city centre in protest at £5.1 billion plans to widen the M1.
Local members of the No M1 Widening group and Friends of the Earth stepped out to highlight the costs involved in plans to widen 115 miles of the motorway, including a stretch between junctions 31 and 32 in South Yorkshire.
And, they argued, the m
oney could be better spent on making homes more environmentally friendly.
They claimed that each metre of M1 widening would cost the same as providing solar power for two houses.
Campaigner Maureen Edwards said: “The government keep talking about climate change and yet which of these two ideas is going to make a difference to that?
“The M1 widening is going to have a detrimental effect, increasing carbon dioxide emissions to make climate change worse. But, if this money was invested in things like solar power and wind turbines, we would be helping the environment and climate change.
“It would be better spent than on widening the M1 which, in five years’ time, will be just as congested as it is now because there will probably be even more traffic on it.”
Fellow campaigner Mark Cohen suggested government grants for solar heating - currently at a maximum of £2,500 - should be increased to make it cost effective for people to switch to ‘green’ power.
He said: “It costs about £6,000 for solar panels but a grant of just £2,500 towards it means there is no incentive. The cost of widening the M1 has gone up by 37 per cent to £5.1 billion but, while there is an increased budget of £18.5 million in the government’s Low Carbon Homes fund, the amounts given in individual grants have been cut.”
The activists measured out just over a kilometre - taking them from the Moor to High Street.
