Carbon DioxideSpeech by Rebecca Lush to the Planning Committee of DCC on 2nd March 2007Good afternoon. My name is Rebecca Lush. I am the Roads and Climate Campaigner for Transport 2000. Transport 2000 is a long established, independent campaigning and research body which brings together people who seek to reduce the environmental and social effects of transport through encouraging less use of cars, lorries and planes and more use of rail, buses, trams, cycling and walking. I have been familiar with the Weymouth Relief Road scheme for a number of years. I have read the Annex E bid for funding for the scheme that went to the Department for Transport in 2003. I have read the Steer Davies Gleeve consultants response to the bid for funding. I have read the various Environmental Statements for the various planning applications. I have also read the Natural England objections to the scheme, and I think it is worthwhile here elaborating on the basis of the Natural England objection as I think it is clear that it is misunderstood and misrepresented. Natural England is a statutory environmental body who have a duty to protect Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and it is their job to examine road schemes. They very rarely object to road schemes. Many people will be aware that Natural England have had their budgets cut by the government and so they cannot afford to object to road schemes unnecessarily. However when a road schemes is particularly damaging and goes through an Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Natural England will contract out the examination and analysis of the scheme to a research body called Transport Research Laboratory. TRL examined this scheme and concluded that the traffic case for the scheme did not add up – that the road simply would not work, by dumping more traffic into the town. It would actually increase congestion in Weymouth. They advised Natural England that the scheme was therefore not a justified intrusion into the AONB. Natural England’s objection therefore is on the basis of an analysis of the evidence. They are not ‘tree-huggers’ who prefer landscapes to people. They objection is based on an examination of the evidence by TRL, who found that the road scheme will not work on its own terms. I think it is important to clarify this. For the rest of my evidence, I would like to restrict my evidence today to the impact of the proposed Weymouth Relief Road on carbon dioxide emissions - although I have a huge attachment to the stunning landscape around Weymouth and two mile coppice having visited and walked the route on several occasions. I also have serious concerns about the escalating cost of the road that will be paid for by the national taxpayer, but there is no time to go into this. Briefly climate change is caused when our atmosphere that keeps this planet inhabitable becomes thickened by carbon dioxide, released into the atmosphere by human activities. This concentration of CO2 traps the sun’s rays and our planet becomes warmer. The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has never been so high; according to the analysis of scientists of samples of ice going back 100,000’s of years, nd is rising very rapidly in recent years. Alongside this, global average temperatures have never been so high and are accelerating rapidly. The ten hottest years in the UK have been in the last fourteen, with 150,000 killed across Europe in the 2003 heat wave. Former World Bank Chief Economist Sir Nicholas Stern stressed the urgency in his important report on the economics of climate change in October 2006: “There is still time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, if we take strong action now”. Our Prime Minister Tony Blair responded, saying: “There is nothing more serious, more urgent or more demanding of leadership. The Stern Review has demolished the last remaining argument for inaction in the face of climate change … we will not be able explain ourselves to future generations if we fail.” On 2 February 2007 the Fourth Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was published, concluding that man is causing climate change. Yvo de Boer, the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said: “The findings, which governments have agreed upon, leave no doubt as to the dangers mankind is facing and must be acted upon without delay”. Environment Secretary David Miliband responded: "The debate over the science of climate change is well and truly over. The window of opportunity to avoid dangerous climate change is closing more quickly than previously thought." The scientific evidence is over whelming, yet some of us are not acting as if this is an emergency, we are sleepwalking into a disaster. There are many stages people go through when dealing with the concept of climate change. Some people go into denial, will not look at the evidence, and with no scientific training assume they know better than 99% of the world’s scientists, the Royal Society, and the science academies of the world’s developed countries. Others say “oh, it’s just a few polar bears” or “who cares about the Artic anyway”, not understanding the scale of the problem, and that this is not an environmental issue, but about survival of the human species and life on earth. Thankfully these responses are now becoming rarer, as the science is now accepted. However, more insidious is the response “there is nothing we can do”, or “whatever we do is irrelevant.” This is the hopeless and casual shrug of death. In Dorset County Council’s Environmental Statement for the scheme it is admitted that because of the additional traffic generated by the Weymouth Relief Road CO2 emissions will increase by 2347 tonnes. So the national taxpayer will be paying anywhere between £77m and £100m to destroy nationally important natural assets for a road scheme that won’t even work, and will increase traffic, congestions and CO2 in an era when we must do all we can to move towards a low carbon economy. This is irresponsible and unacceptable. However it is the response of Dorset County Council to this admission in its ES which is most shocking of all. It shrugs off the increase in CO2, as “an insignificant impact” in the national context. Let us examine how “insignificant” it really is: In a report by Miles Butler, Environment Director to DCC just last week, it was revealed that DCC are way off their targets for reducing their own emissions. It also detailed how over the next 4 years the County hopes to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by a total of 4,851 tonnes, or an average of 1213 tonnes a year. However, in one year alone, the acknowledged contribution of 2,347 tonnes in just one year from the relief road in 2010 would wipe out just under half of this planned four year reduction, or just under double the savings the council hopes to make in a year. There are over 100 highways authorities in England, if everyone one of them were to promote projects with the same CO2 impact as the WRR and adopt the same couldn’t care less attitude it would lead to an annual national increase of 234,700 tonnes of CO2 from these 100 highways authorities. There are 500 local authorities in England and Wales. If every one of them took the same irresponsible shrugging of shoulders attitude that Dorset County Council is taking towards the CO2 caused by the WRR, it would lead to an annual increase of CO2 emissions of over one million tonnes, just from local authorities. Dorset must take responsibility for its actions, and acknowledge its part to play in the national, international and local battle to tackle climate change. In a column in the Local Government Chronicle on 14 Dec Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Agriculture, David Miliband, said “Climate Change is a massive issue and is it sometimes difficult to see what we can do to make a difference. But everybody... has a part to play and this includes councils who spend billions every year on public services and goods. The most important thing councils can do is lead by example”. We have an absolute moral imperative to act now. We are the last generation to be able to make the difference between success and failure in tackling climate change. There are probably three generations represented in this room, and it is an enormous responsibility to feel that we are the last people on earth to actually make that difference. We already have the skills, the knowledge, the technology. We just need the political will. That is up to you. Last year Dorset County Council was criticised by the Department for Transport for its 5 year Local Transport Plan, for its emphasis on the motor car. It doesn’t have to be like this. With vision, leadership and political will sustainable transport need not be an unreachable ideal, but something achievable and desirable. Local resident’s today have already outlined the low cost simple measures that Dorset County Council could implement today that would be cut congestion, traffic and pollution. But there are examples nationally. For instance simple low cost measures in three Sustainable Transport Demonstration Towns around the Uk have already cut car trips in the long term by 13 per cent. Every decision we make now is so incredibly important, and I urge you to take this responsibility seriously and to take the leadership required. Please reject the planning application for the Weymouth Relief Road, and help Dorset County Council become a local authority that is part of the solution not part of the problem. Thank you Other Carbon Dioxide notes: It can be argued that unless DCC have included the environmental impact of the construction of the road, they will have failed to conduct a full environmental assessment. Attention must therefore be paid to the materials used, and the environmental cost of their manufacture and transportation. (The environmental cost of their extraction should also be included, and needs to be researched) Concrete is responsible for 7-10% of CO2 emissions worldwide, making it the biggest climate change culprit outside of transportation and electricity-generation. This is because concrete is a composite of \"aggregate\" material (rocks, sand, gravel) held together by Portland cement glue, and producing Portland cement means heating limestone and clay up to 2500 - 3000 degrees F. For every tonne of Portland cement produced, cement plants generate approximately one tonne of carbon dioxide - one of the main greenhouse gases. Therefore, one cubic metre of good structural concrete, made with 320 kg/m3 of Portland cement, will produce about 0.41 tonnes of CO2, emitted into the atmosphere. (Source: http://www.atse.org.au/index.php?sectionid=415) 5.4km carriageway. (5400 Metres) Width = 7.3 metres + 1 metre hard strip each side = 9.3 metres Climbing lanes (lengths unspecified in DCC environmental statement). Carriageway width = 10metres + 1 metre hard strip each side = 12 metres Estimate. Conservative average width for entire length of road, say 10 metres. Depth of road structure: (unspecified in DCC environmental statement). Internet browsing suggests will vary according to subsoil composition. Figures range from about 300mm. (0.3m) Therefore, total volume of concrete = 5400 x 10 x 0.3 = 16200m3 16200 x 0.41= 6642 tonnes of CO2 CO2 Emissions Arising from materials transportation. This is where some professional advice is required, as will be appreciated if you download an excellent calculator and guide, obtainable from: http://www.aggregain.org.uk/sustainability/sustainability_tools_and_approaches/co2_emissions.html From Hansard: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmhansrd/vo021120/text/21120w18.htm Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the average CO2 emission per air passenger has been in each year since 1990. [80845] Mr. Jamieson: Information is not available in the form requested. Table 2.8 on page 40 of XTransport Statistics Great Britain 2002\" shows that the total contribution by civil aviation to CO2 emissions in the United Kingdom remained steady throughout each year from 1990 to 2000 and comprised 1 per cent. in 2000, the latest year for which data are available. Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the average carbon dioxide emissions per person per journey from London to Newcastle by (a) air, (b) rail, (c) lorry and (d) car. [81579] Mr. Jamieson: The estimates are as follows:
Estimates are based on a journey distance of 270 miles. In the case of air travel and rail travel, they make no allowance for travel to the airport or railway station. In the case of lorries, it is assumed that fuel consumption for an articulated lorry is 0.35 litres per km, and for a rigid lorry, 0.40 litres per km. Emissions per passenger for travel by car will depend on the size of the vehicle, and the number of passengers. Estimates above are based on an average car and average car occupancy over all journeys of 1.59 passengers per car derived from National Travel Survey in the period 1999?2001. 270 Miles = 435Km So, Assuming Rigid Diesel, 461/435 = 1.05 of CO2 Kg/Km |