Transport campaigners challenge Trans-Pennine road tunnel feasibility

The three representatives of environmental campaigning organisations participating in the stakeholder reference group for the DFT/Highways England and transport for the North trans-Pennine tunnel strategic study – Lillian Burns, CPRE and NW TAR; Anthony Rae, Friends of the Earth and Y&H TAR; Anne Robinson, CPRE and Friends of the Peak District – have submitted two documents challenging whether the fundamental feasibility of the project has been adequately examined, as the initial stage of the study reaches what they regard as a premature close.

– Trans-Pennine Tunnel Strategic Study: Testing the fundamental feasibility of the project This submission has been endorsed by Stephen Joseph, chief executive of Campaign for Better Transport.

It states: “The purpose of this submission is to identify to the Department for Transport and Transport for the North – its two co-sponsors – a number of questions or issues relating to the fundamental feasibility of the project that we believe have not been adequately addressed during this first phase, to the extent that members of the reference group can be satisfied that ‘proof of concept’ has been established.”

– What is the case for improved connectivity between Manchester and Sheffield? – literature review July 2015 This is a longer background document intended as a contribution to the study’s evidence base.