When it comes to green policies for the UK’s roads, the government needs to take a look at Scotland and Wales.
That’s according to Sian Berry, who persuaded her fellow London Assembly members to add an amendment to review road-building to a recent motion.
In Scotland and Wales, all parties have worked together to halt road expansion that threatens the climate. Sian pressed for a similar approach, with a motion stating the government needed to “review all current road building in England against their cumulative climate impact.”
Sian thanked the Labour Assembly members for accepting her amendment, adding that Scotland and Wales were leading the way. She said: “If we follow their lead in England, we can properly assess overall impacts and build a realistic path to preventing disastrous climate change.”
In 2019 the vehicles on UK road’s accounted for 25% of carbon emissions in the country. Experts have known for a long time that building roads is not a sustainable transport solution. According to the theory of ‘induced demand’, it simply encourages driving and new roads soon fill up with more traffic.