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Congestion - Charlie Bolton, 2 March 2005

Bristol Joint Local Transport Plan

To: Western Daily Press

Dear Sir

It can surprise no-one when the Freight Transport Association call for new roads (letters 1/3/2005 Britain will grind to a Halt without new roads). And Colin Hagan, West Midlands regional policy manager Freight Transport Association, may well be right that road congestion is getting worse and is costing billions of pounds per year.

However fails to mention the alternatives to building more roads.

Firstly, why not find alternative methods of moving freight about? Rail and waterways are two obvious examples.

Second, why do we have to have freight moving over such large distances? Well, part of the answer lies in the fact that business tries to achieve economies of scale by centralising its outlets. Perhaps business could spend some of those billions lost on having more localised production which needs to be transported over smaller distances. We in the Green Party support strong local economies - and part of the reason for this is to reduce the need to travel, both by people and by freight.

The alternative - to try and roadbuild your way out of congestion didn't work in the past, and still won't work now. New roads create new demand for people to travel. And let's face it, why should we the taxpayer spend our taxes on subsidising the costs of business?

Yours

Charlie Bolton
Parliamentary candidate
Bristol South