A47 safety solution protects broads environment

5 July 2006

The Highways Agency's decision (1) to introduce new safety measures on the A47 (2) on the Acle Straight in the Norfolk Broads rather than to go ahead with a new dual carriageway has been welcomed by the Council for National Parks (CNP) (3).

CNP transport campaigner Rachel Reeves said: "Plans to upgrade the Acle Straight into a dual carriageway would have severely harmed the landscape, tranquillity and wildlife of the Broads (4) and people's enjoyment of it. Dualling had been rejected by recent studies (5, 6) as well as by the independent Panel which recently examined the East of England Plan (7). Road building schemes in nationally important landscapes such as the Broads must pass a test of national need and be without alternative before they can go ahead which the dualling of the Acle Straight failed on both counts. We welcome the Highways Agency's decision to address public safety concerns through a variety of measures including safety cameras and visibility improvements. These measures all represent value for money and are relatively quick to implement, whilst a dual carriageway would have caused huge environmental damage and cost the tax payer upwards of £56m.

"In view of the public safety concerns along this stretch of the A47 we urge that these measures are implemented as quickly as possibly and monitored so that their effectiveness is known. In addition, we ask the Agency to introduce a 50mph speed limit with enforcement measures, as recommended by Ministers in 2001, and also for a substantial investment in local bus services. We hope that together these measures will address public safety concerns and that plans for a dual carriageway or substantial road widening in this sensitive landscape will now be shelved for once and for all".

Notes to Editors

• 1. The Council for National Parks is the national charity that works to protect and enhance the National Parks of England and Wales, and areas that merit National Park status, and promote understanding and quiet enjoyment of them for the benefit of all.
• 2. During the 3rd reading and report stage of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill, the government introduced an amendment to give National Park Authorities the powers to make "Traffic Regulation Orders", or "TROs", the legal tools which enable non-essential use of routes by motor vehicles to be controlled. The amendment built on a CNP amendment during the 2nd reading in June 2005, tabled by Roger Williams MP. Click here to view yesterday's amendment and debate
• 3. CNP published research in May 2005 on off-road vehicle use in the National Parks and suggested that part of the solution to the problem would be to grant Traffic Regulation Order powers to the National Park Authorities. Click here to download "Off-road or off limits?"
• 4. Examples of delays include TROs desperately needed for the Pennine Bridleway National Trail, which has undergone £750,000 of repairs as it uses routes claimed by off-road vehicles, two years for a TRO to protect ecologically important spawning grounds in a river used by four-wheel drives in the Lake District National Park, and three years to protect four of the most fragile green lanes in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, some of them ancient Roman routes.

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