A BOMBSHELL report on the impact humans are having on climate change should lead to a rethink on new roads projects in Essex, campaigners have claimed.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report has been labelled “code red for humanity” - warning of the unprecedented and irreversible ways humans are changing the earth’s climate.
North Essex campaigners say the report should be a wake up call on plans to expand the A12, creating ten lanes of carriageway in some places, and build a four-lane link road between the A120 and A133.
Rosie Pearson said: “Climate change is happening now, and fast, and it is human driven.
“It is of great concern temperature targets set under the Paris agreement may be broken within the next 20 years and that our councils seem incapable of making the link between road-building and environmental problems.
“We have put forward alternatives for both proposals. A Green Cordon instead of an unnecessary A120-A133 link road and the addition of only one lane of capacity instead of six for the A12.
“If the IPCC report is not the catalyst for those options to be looked at, I don’t know what will.
“Essex County Council’s leader Kevin Bentley has said climate change will be ‘a central pillar of everything we do’ and has appointed a climate Czar, Peter Schwier.
“The IPCC report is a code red for humanity and I urge these two gentlemen and the Essex Climate Commission to review road-building plans as a matter of urgency, for us and all of our children and grandchildren.”
Campaigners plans for the Green Cordon would see a single carriageway road built instead of the link road, which would be banned to through traffic.
Read more:
- Call for 'green cordon' to replace £70m A120/A133 link road
- A12 upgrade could see 10 lanes run between Marks Tey and Kelvedon
- Planning application submitted for £70m A120 to A133 link road
Cycling campaigner Will Bramhill said the “free-for-all” on building new roads couldn’t continue.
He said: “There are good arguments for a road that allows faster, safer trips but at the same time we have to remember two things: the effect on climate change and the effect of worsening congestion in our towns, where most of these car trips will begin and end.
“This free-for-all cannot continue. The world has moved on. Indeed, it cannot afford not to move on.
"Essex should seriously consider the alternative Green Cordon plan that we have put forward.”
Essex County Council’s Climate Czar Peter Schwier said: “This is a vital reality check and reminder that all levels of government have a responsibility to tackle climate change now.
“Time is fast running out to stay below the threshold of limiting global warming to below 1.5 degrees Centigrade.
“Extreme weather events are likely to become more frequent and more severe and doing nothing is not an option.
"The county of Essex is at the forefront of tackling climate change, most recently seen with the launch of the Essex Climate Action Commission’s report, Net Zero – Making Essex Carbon Neutral.
“The report contains over 130 recommendations on how Essex can best get to net zero by 2050.
"The work the council is already doing is an important part of the global response to climate change and includes providing access to government funding for Essex residents to make energy efficiency improvements to their homes, installing solar panels on schools and council buildings and the opening last year of the UK’s first electric forecourt in Braintree, to name but a few.”
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