Extinction Rebellion Sheffield writes to council demanding a halt to road widening

Sheffield City Council is forging ahead with plans to widen the ring road.

Activist group Extinction Rebellion say this will bring more cars into the city, condemning children to more air pollution and our world to more vehicular carbon emissions, worsening the pollution issues in a city where 500 deaths each year are linked to air quality.

In response to this, Extinction Rebellion Sheffield has written to Councillor Dore, Cllr Mark Jones and Cllr Tom Finnegan-Smith with the following demands.

Their letter said: “Sheffield City Council have not taken action that makes their declaration of climate and ecological emergency meaningful.

“To have any chance of reducing carbon emissions and ecological damage, on a timetable proportionate to the risk and damage being done to lives in Sheffield and around the world, we need unprecedented changes led by every level of government – including local.

“This must mean stopping current road capacity expansion, and abandoning planning of more elsewhere.

“Unless SCC agree to stop building us into this dead-end, as concerned citizens they leave us no option: on Monday September 9 we will nonviolently rebel to disrupt their dangerous business as usual.

“We regret that this will cause inconvenience to people in Sheffield.

“We hope that SCC will show that it is truly committed to its declaration of a climate emergency by supporting our demand and acting with the consistency that the planet demands.”

Extinction Rebellion say that the £4.6m investment for the road, which will cause increased traffic, would be better spent on higher quality, more affordable public transport and active travel options.

The report that SCC has commissioned from the Tyndall Centre has stressed the need for the council to cut its carbon emissions by 14% p.a - a target that the council has declared itself committed to achieving.

On Monday September 9 at 8am, ER will block the roads around the Bridgehouses Roundabout.