Completion of the Heysham to M6 Link

Is it true that cheaper, more sustainable and effective plans have been ditched?

No. The County Council, together with the City Council, have always promoted schemes to encourage cycling, walking and the use of public transport. These schemes, usually referred to as "complementary measures", are an essential part of the transport management plan for the area and will continue to be provided. However these measures will not solve the problems of the through traffic and the restricted access to the peninsular area – to help these problems a new road is required and this in turn will allow additional complementary measures. This has been the consistent message from the County Council since the early 1990s and do not forget that the link road scheme itself includes a park and ride site at the motorway junction.

This view was reinforced at the Planning Inquiry held in summer 2007. The group formed primarily to stop the construction of the link road, Transport Solutions for Lancaster and Morecambe (TSLM) had consistently been asking for an examination in public of the arguments for and against the link road. The Planning Inspector concluded that a new road together with complementary measures was required and planning permission was subsequently granted in February 2008. In fact the Inspector was critical of TSLM saying that whilst they claimed that alternative measures could solve the traffic problems of the area and that a new road was not required, they did not provide any evidence to support that view.

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Are you just destroying and polluting the environment at locations along the link in return for very little?

The figures speak for themselves.

For the 3,545 properties experiencing deterioration in local air quality, 17,756 properties experience an improvement. For the 10,049 properties experiencing a 1db(A) increase in noise, 34,367 properties experience a 1db(A) decrease. Therefore a huge benefit to the areas of Lancaster, Morecambe, Heysham and Carnforth would be enjoyed. Lancashire County Council's commitment to careful mitigation would ensure the environmental price is small in comparison to the key benefits of improved communications between Morecambe and Heysham and the M6 Motorway and the removal of a significant volume of traffic from the River Lune Bridges in Lancaster.

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Does the link really offer value for money?

The latest available economic assessment, conducted very recently, gives a Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) for the scheme of 7.96. That means for every £1 the government spends, the economy gets almost £8 back. That is obviously an excellent investment. This result indicates that the link will provide a very positive economic return. Indeed this return of around eight times its cost is well above the Department for Transport’s new ‘Very High’ category which covers the very best transport schemes offering returns greater than four times their cost.

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Are the costs out of control?

When the Major Scheme Business Case (MSBC) was submitted to the Department for Transport (DfT) in July 2005 the guidance stated that the cost should be shown at December 2003 prices. This gave a cost of £87.7m. However to get the real cost of building the scheme you have to add inflation on each year up to the actual time of construction – this is termed the "outturn" cost. Any delay in building the scheme adds to the cost as further inflation needs to be added.

The current estimate of the outturn cost is £139.4m based on a construction period starting in late 2010 and finishing in mid 2014.
To say that the costs are out of control because they have increased from £87.7m to £139.4m is totally wrong as you are comparing different things.
The only real increases in cost have been fairly minor and include the addition of the Park and Ride and because new government standards required the slip roads to be redesigned.

Of the £139.4m Central Government is to contribute £133.1m with the rest being supplied by the County Council. This contribution by the Government is a major investment in the North West. As the DfT contribution is a fixed amount, Lancashire County Council has a vested interest to keep any increase to the 'out-turn' cost to a minimum and ideally reduce costs whenever possible in order to reduce their contribution. A significant part of the out-turn cost is a contingency amount to deal with risks to the delivery of the Link and as these risk are controlled or removed as the design is finalized then the 'out-turn' cost should reduce.

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Will the link really solve problems?

The latest available traffic forecasts and economic assessment show that the link will address the key problems of congestion, road safety, poor access to the Port and the sub-standard M6 Junction 34. For the existing A683 route, between M6 and Torrisholme in 2014 with the link in place, significant traffic flow reductions of 13-40% are now predicted. Significant traffic relief is also forecast at many other locations including the A6 through Bolton-le Sands and Carnforth.

Because of route standard, shortness of distance and a re-modelled M6 Junction 34 the link will form the appropriate route for all journeys between the Port of Heysham and M6. It will, therefore, provide a significant improvement in access. In terms of road safety, over the 60-year appraisal period – and with the transfer of traffic off urban single carriageway roads onto a high standard dual carriageway, plus the re-modelling of M6 Junction 34 – 2,497 fewer personal injury accidents are now predicted with the link in place, a very significant improvement.

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Won't this link just attract more HGVs to the area?

Part of the purpose of the new road is to help regeneration of the area and to improve links to an international gateway, namely Heysham Port. So, yes, there will be an increase in the traffic but this traffic will be on the link road and not going through the City centre and through residential areas. Even more importantly most of the existing heavy traffic will swop from the existing routes onto the new link road.

The link would reduce journey times between Heysham and Morecambe and the M6 by some 50% and journey time reliability would be significantly enhanced. "Reliability" means that drivers do not have to leave a longer than normal time for their journey because of expected delays. With the link road in place journey time is not only shorter but more consistent – more reliable.

This would mean that transport costs would be reduced and this would not only help the port owners but the operations of a number of businesses located in Heysham or Morecambe. Therefore the regeneration areas would be made more attractive as a business location, encouraging existing businesses to expand and others to locate there. Interviews with existing local businesses confirmed this scenario. Putting the link in place would have a beneficial impact on the areas of low economic activity and deprivation in the district.

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Is it true that this road will increase the risk of flooding?

Several Flood Risk Assessments have been carried out during the development of the link for the parts which are to be constructed within flood risk areas. All the Flood Risk Assessments including one carried out very recently, for the proposed bridge over the River Lune (Lune Lower Bridge) which takes further account of climate change, debris and tidal impacts, have shown that the effect of the scheme in relation to flooding is of no significance.

It is known that properties in Halton already flood. Obviously the new bridge cannot prevent this flooding but it has been clearly shown that it does not make it any worse. 

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Why build the scheme when nobody wants it?

There have been numerous polls over the years but only one that has been completely unbiased. This was conducted by MORI in 2001 who canvassed 1000 people across the area. At that time there were 2 routes on offer and 79% supported the link road with about equal support for each route. That is a huge majority in favour of a new road.

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Doesn't the road destroy a big area of the greenbelt?

Objectors claim that the road will destroy 173 acres of greenbelt but this is not true. Firstly the actual area of new carriageway in the greenbelt is about 40 acres, the rest of the area taken is for landscaping and grassed areas including large areas of improved habitat for wildlife.

Secondly greenbelt is land between established communities where development is prohibited in order to restrict the outward sprawl of the built up areas. Roads are, of course, allowed in greenbelt areas otherwise there would be no easy means of travelling from community to community! Building a road does not alter the status of the land, it is still greenbelt.

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