Picture this: a private company wants to build a massive new transport route through some of England’s wildest country.
Right: on the route, wild Pennine scenery
Thousands of foreign workers will be employed during the construction project, and local resources will be plundered to provide stone and other raw materials for building.
It will be necessary to build a temporary town to house the workers as well as a factory on an upland moor close to limestone pavement and cave systems. The finished 72-mile-long structure will be visible from many of northern England’s high fells and moorland. 14 tunnels will need to be dug in addition to numerous cuttings and embankments to enable completion of the route, which cuts through some of the remotest Pennine landscape.
Traffic using the route will add significantly to carbon emissions and important ice-age geology will be destroyed when the scheme is constructed. Critics say the route is unnecessary because it duplicates two existing north-south alternatives.
You can read all about this crazy plan in grough's latest feature here, or go to the features menu on the left.
stuart
08 March 2007Can you tell me exactly where this route is proposed to go? If not, where can I find out more details so that I can register my complete opposition! Thanks, Stu PS - Grough is a great site - I frequently look at it to keep up on the outdoor news. Keep up the great work.
grough editor
08 March 2007Hi Stuart, I have to confess to a bit of teasing. Click on the link to the feature in the story before you start any opposition group. Thanks for the kind words about the site - grough editor