Reducing the impact of roads

National Parks are home to communities and host visitors who rely on roads to travel in and around the Parks. Despite their status as Protected Landscapes they are continually under threat from new road and road widening schemes which often do not deal with the issues they aim to address such as congestion and traffic.

Major road development has no place in the heart of our most cherished landscapes and vital homes for nature. That’s why we campaign for investment in current roads to deliver environmental improvements to the existing network, call for investment in public transport and support our partners in campaigning against proposals for inappropriate new or upgraded roads.

The impact of new road and road widening schemes

There has been significant pressure for new road building in or close to National Parks in recent years. New road and road widening schemes not only cause habitat destruction through major new transport infrastructure, but also increases traffic and congestion, impacts on communities through HGV movements, increases carbon emissions and increases noise pollution.

Threats from major roads

National Highways have been given permission to widen the A66 which would have a negative impact on the Lake District National Park and the North Pennines National Landscape.

National Highways have green lit the Lower Thames Crossing which threatens ancient woodland within the Kent Downs National Landscape, as well as the M3 junction 9 project near Winchester, which the South Downs National Park Authority has objected to on grounds that it will cause “significant adverse harm”, “contrary to the purposes of the National Park”.

Our position

Road building in National Parks should always be an option of last resort. Where new road infrastructure is considered to be the best solution, it should be introduced in conjunction with demand management measures so it does not lead to traffic growth or undermine public transport use, walking and cycling by making car use more attractive. In addition, where new road infrastructure cannot be avoided the design should be sensitive to the particular landscape setting and any locally distinctive characteristics.

Government should promote, and highways authorities should adopt, road maintenance, traffic management and design policies and practices, which are appropriate to the special qualities of National Parks. In some cases, it may be appropriate to encourage through traffic to use alternative routes outside the National Park to reduce the volume of traffic in the National Park, in other cases, it may be better to focus on mitigation to reduce the impacts of traffic.

What are we doing?

Whilst we’re campaigning to make sure that National Parks are well served by public transport, we’re also working to reduce the impact of roads in the Parks.

This means:

• Supporting National Park Societies who are campaigning against proposals for new or upgraded roads
• Arguing the case for money to be spent on supporting walking, cycling and public transport
• Challenging Highways England and local highway authorities to follow the change in law which requires all public bodies to ‘seek to further’ the purposes of Protected Landscapes

Learn more about how we implement the law