Better Transport

"We’re extremely fortunate to have Campaign for Better Transport helping us fight the Westbury Bypass, a terrible scheme which would carve a swathe through the Wiltshire countryside. They’ve helped us to get our message across to ministers and civil servants and given us plenty of campaigning tips.” - Jenny Raggett, White Horse Alliance

The Government is pushing ahead with a massive road building programme that people don’t want or need. If the proposed roads are built, we will be worse off (which is why we've prepared a guide to help people oppose them).

What's wrong with road building?

We all just want a reasonably pleasant journey to a destination. Right now some of us don’t have that because our roads are congested. We get told that a new road will improve our journeys. If only it were so! There is clear evidence that road-building is generally not a solution to congestion.

In many cases the creation of new road space simply releases suppressed demand and leads to traffic growth in the long term. This has been clearly seen with the M25, where traffic on a newly widened stretch doubled within a year. It's also the case for many bypasses too. A recent study by the Highways Agency showed that building a bypass generates loads more traffic - on the bypass, the old route and throughout the wider region.

Road transport is a major contributor to the UK’s output of greenhouse gases. In addition, road schemes frequently put at risk important countryside and wildlife sites and have even been proposed where they would harm National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

Our fight against damaging new roads relies on donations; please consider supporting us.