Claims for transport plans are a fantasy

Unfortunately their claims of the economic benefits it will bring are an unachievable fantasy.

The reason is that if it goes ahead unchanged, it will be impossible to achieve the radical reductions in carbon dioxide emissions that we need to limit climate change.

Transport causes around a quarter of all emissions and the plan aims to expand road capacity enough to accommodate substantially increased total car mileage on our roads.

A transition to electric vehicles should allow emissions to reduce slightly over time but nothing like by the 44 per cent that the Governments’ advisors on climate change say is needed nationally by 2030.

Those who think the economy should take precedence over environmental drawbacks should remember that nearly all national governments have now agreed to seek to limit global average temperature rise to 1.5-2 degrees.

This is largely because if it goes beyond this, the economic damage from extreme weather events could wipe out any economic benefits gained from further development.

Transport for the North should now completely redesign its plan, with much less road building.

Increases in travel capacity should come from better provision for rail travel, walking and cycling.

Chris Broome

Hackthorn Road, Sheffield, S8