Open letter
We should all come to our senses and stop the A38 expansion for good
In a recent article, Councillor David Muller, from South Derbyshire District Council, stated that those campaigning against the A38 expansion should “come to their senses” to enable the new road scheme to proceed unhindered and to reduce traffic problems to the west of Derby.
However, we, of the Stop the A38 Expansion group, are continuing to campaign against the carbon-emitting, air- and noise-polluting and nature-destroying new road scheme because we know that it will not reduce traffic problems – it will make them worse. The new road will create additional capacity for even more traffic, not least from the thousands of new developments planned to the west of Derby. In its own planning documents, National Highways predict that traffic will increase, as will carbon emissions, air pollution and noise from the extra traffic.
In fact, the main reason for this new road scheme is to ‘unlock’ more land to build at least 11,000 new developments to the west of Derby, with no mention of new schools, shops or doctors’ surgeries being built at the same time. These new homes will therefore be car-dependent, meaning that residents will be forced to drive - rather than walk, cycle or use public transport – everywhere because any amenities will be impossible to get to without a car (this is why the developers want the A38 expansion to go ahead – otherwise, they could build new housing without it!). Car dependency leads to people being inactive and feeling isolated, as well as increasing air pollution, which is extremely harmful to health and causes thousands of premature deaths every year in the UK alone. Derby already has dangerous levels of air pollution.
As stated by one Derby resident concerned about yet another new planned housing estate close to the A38: “Most families have at least two or three cars per household, so [there will be] even more cars on our dreadful roads”. Another stated: “We will be in total gridlock before we know it”. A Mickleover resident said: “There are no adequate bus services to cover any of the existing developments including this new one, which just makes our roads busier and creates more pollution”.
While we need new homes, we don’t need more sprawling housing estates which are far from any amenities, far from the city centre and far from public transport networks. Building thousands of homes will mean that within a very short space of time, the extra capacity on the A38 will soon become more clogged up, and the roads that it feeds onto will not be able to cope with the extra traffic, meaning more congestion on our residential streets and more pollution and noise from the increased traffic.
Developers prefer greenfield sites because they are more profitable, and they make more money from urban sprawl than they do from building closer to existing shops, facilities and public transport networks. We should be building the types of homes that are needed, and freeing up those that aren’t used, rather than allowing developers to choose the land they want to build on so that they get richer while local people’s quality of life declines. We need to stop building new homes in the wrong places, stop contributing to climate breakdown and pollution and stop wasting money by building new roads which will create even more traffic and enable more housing to be built on our green spaces. Instead, we need the right homes in the right places where amenities already exist and huge investment in schools and in healthcare services so that people can get GP and hospital appointments when they need them. These services have been underfunded and overstretched for many years, as has education, yet successive governments always seem to prioritise new roads and always seem to be able to find money to build them!
There are many other reasons that we oppose the new road scheme, which many people will not be aware of. It will:
increase carbon emissions, both during and after construction (when we drastically need to reduce them because we’re in a climate emergency)
increase noise for many households
increase air pollution, especially at Markeaton roundabout, impacting residents at the Royal School for the Deaf
increase traffic (as stated by National Highways which planned the scheme)
destroy liveable homes on Queensway
forcibly take agricultural land from farmers
destroy thousands of trees, including a veteran oak
destroy vital and precious wildlife habitats (when wildlife has already drastically declined over recent years in the UK)
cost at least £250 million (money which could be better spent on maintaining our existing roads which are in a shocking state, improving public transport and creating more active travel routes to help people be more active, tackle obesity and improve mental health)
Research consistently shows that building new roads, or adding more lanes to existing roads, encourages more traffic. This is because of ‘induced traffic’. It happens because people who don’t usually drive or who use an alternative route or different form of transport start to use the new road because it is, initially, uncongested. Satnavs also direct cars and lorries to new roads. Studies have shown that traffic increases in line with the increase in capacity, so, for example, if a road is widened by 10%, traffic will increase by the same amount¹. Within a very short time, the new or expanded road becomes just as congested as before (the A38 is currently only congested at certain times of day and is often free flowing). If the A38 expansion goes ahead in Derby, it will therefore quickly fill up and will be more congested than ever.
There are other ways to reduce the traffic. In the short term, traffic signalling improvements, lowering speed limits, congestion charging (with exceptions for blue badge holders, taxis, car shares, etc), and encouraging car sharing and transport modal shift (for those who can) would address congestion issues while longer-term sustainable transport investments are researched and delivered.
We need to create the facilities to allow more people to walk, cycle, car share and use public transport. Many bus services have been cut and others are unreliable, which forces more people to drive. Traffic could be drastically reduced if there were more and cheaper bus routes and services in Derby, and if more people going to the same place of work at the same time car shared. Initiatives such as community car clubs and car-sharing apps would also help take more cars off the road 2.
There should be speed cameras along the A38 to ensure people don’t exceed 40mph. Many people do well above 40mph between the roundabouts, then break sharply which contributes to traffic build up.
Friends of the Earth recommends a 40-60% reduction in road traffic in Derby by 2030, which is achievable. Data shows that most car trips in Derby could be replaced by walking, cycling or bus travel with adequate investment in infrastructure and services.
The University of Derby, with two campuses near the A38 Markeaton junction, operates free buses every 10 minutes, plus a park-and-ride service, preventing thousands of vehicles from congesting Derby’s roads daily.
Derby's bus services, primarily run by Trent Barton and Arriva, have been reduced, and routes are poorly connected, often requiring travel into the city centre before transferring to another bus, sometimes by different providers. Bus franchising would mean Derby City Council could determine the details of the services to be provided - where they run, when they run, and the standards of the services. Franchising can be an effective way of correcting a market failure. To reduce local traffic in Derby interacting with long-distance traffic on the A38 between the M1 and Birmingham, bus franchising could ensure fully integrated, easy-to-use services, multi-operator ticketing, increased reliability, faster journey times, high-quality information for passengers and, in larger places, turn-up-and-go frequencies that keep running into the evenings and at weekends3.
Unlike Nottingham, Derby lacks a tram network. While some cycle paths exist, they are fragmented and mostly shared with pedestrians or vehicles, highlighting the need for safer, more connected cycling infrastructure.
Investing even a fraction of the £250 million earmarked for the A38 expansion into public transport would yield greater economic, social and environmental benefits. Public transport lowers travel costs, reduces the UK's reliance on oil and boosts productivity. The rail industry, for example, generates around £43 billion of GVA annually, with every £1 spent on the railways generating £2.50 elsewhere in the economy4. Improved public transport connections could increase GDP in England (excluding London) and Wales by over £50 billion annually through agglomeration effects.
Public transport is vital for access to employment, education and training. Before COVID-19, over 2.5 million people commuted by bus, with 10% of these commuters potentially being forced to change jobs if bus services were unavailable. A 10% improvement in local bus connectivity is associated with a 3.6% reduction in deprivation5.
Investment in public transport is crucial for boosting productivity. Poor public transport in UK cities, as highlighted by the Centre for Cities, limits productivity by reducing effective density and agglomeration. Targeted investment in city transport systems could yield significant productivity gains. For instance, the agglomeration benefits of Crossrail in London added 25% to the project's benefits. Similarly, investment in light rail helped regenerate Salford Quays, a key cluster for media and digital industries. A 2014 US study found that a 10% increase in public transport was associated with a 1-2% increase in Gross Metropolitan Product (GMP) per capita.
The UK lags behind European cities in public transport infrastructure, with only nine light rail/tram networks compared to 49 in Germany and 28 in France. Poor public transport in cities like Birmingham reduces their effective size, limiting agglomeration benefits and hindering productivity. Improving public transport in these cities could increase GDP per capita by up to 7%.
Reducing private vehicle use has significant co-benefits, including better air quality, safer roads, a healthier population, quieter neighbourhoods and more convivial public spaces. Reducing traffic and investing in sustainable transport would also create a fairer transport system, benefiting low-income households without car access. Additionally, less traffic would reduce congestion for essential road users, and many drivers would prefer to switch to public transport if services were improved.
Spending just a fraction of the £250 million allocated for the A38 expansion on sustainable transport solutions would benefit everyone and reduce road traffic.
No consideration of non-road-based solutions
National Highways says the A38 scheme aims to reduce journey times by separating local from long-distance traffic at Derby junctions and increasing capacity to support further development along the A38 corridor. However, multi-modal solutions to meet these two aims have never been explored.
The examining authority asked why only road-based solutions were proposed for the A38: 'Please justify why "the only solutions were clearly perceived to be road-based options"'6. National Highways (then Highways England) responded that 'in 2001, the Government commissioned a series of multi-modal studies and road-based studies to examine potential travel solutions to transport problems along defined movement corridors across the UK. The studies in the East Midlands region were directed by a Project Management Group (PMG) and overseen by a Regional Steering Group (RSG), whose groups included the Government Office for the East Midlands and various organisations with an interest in transport and travel. The study that the PMG commissioned to examine the A38 corridor through Derby was a "road-based study" rather than a "multi-modal study." The solution to the problems on the A38 were clearly perceived by both the PMG and the RSG to be road-based options (i.e., otherwise they would have commissioned a "multi-modal" study)'.
So, decisions made in 2001 to never consider multi-modal solutions are justifying this ineffective, £250 million scheme with many negative social and environmental impacts. Originally proposed in the 2000s, the scheme's public consultation took place in 2015, prior to the introduction of Net Zero legislation. The ongoing climate, biodiversity and economic crises in 2024 further weaken the purported benefits of the A38 expansion, which overly emphasises unreliable journey time savings translated into monetary value.
The 2015 consultation only received 739 responses. The consultation materials by National Highways were heavily biassed in favour of the scheme, exaggerated the benefits and did not fully explain the negative impacts of the scheme7. The planning inspectorate examination between 2019 and 2020 received 31 relevant representations, 13 written representations and 721 questions in the first round. Many were objections from local residents and environmental/conservation groups.
We therefore feel that it’s time for our politicians to “come to their senses”. Let’s stop allowing developers to choose the most profitable locations to build the types of homes we don’t need rather than those we do. We need to cancel the A38 Derby Junctions road scheme and have massive investment in public transport and active travel which will enable us all to save money, breathe cleaner air and be more active, which will benefit the planet as well as our physical and mental health.
WIRED, What’s Up With That: Building Bigger Roads Actually Makes Traffic Worse. https://www.wired.com/2014/06/wuwt-traffic-induced-demand/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWe%20found%20that%20there's%20this,went%20up%20by%2010%20percent
Friends of the Earth. (n.d.). Derby Transport. Available at: https://groups.friendsoftheearth.uk/near-you/local-authority/derby#transport.
UK Government. (2017). Bus Services Act 2017: Bus Franchising. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bus-services-act-2017-bus-franchising-creation/setting-up-a-bus-franchising-scheme.
Benefits of Public Transport. (n.d.). Available at: https://www.a38derbychaos.org/s/Handout-Benefits-of-public-transport-formatted-1.pdf.
Transport Select Committee Inquiry into RIS2. (2023). Available at: https://www.a38derbychaos.org/s/TfQL-Transport-Select-Committee-inquiry-into-RIS2-Feb-2023-Final-2.pdf.
Planning Inspectorate, A38 Derby Junctions Responses to ExA First Written Questions. https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/wp-content/ipc/uploads/projects/TR010022/TR010022-000796-TR010022_A38_8.5_Responses_to_ExA_First_Written_Questions.pdf.
National Highways, A38 Derby Junctions Public Consultation Materials. https://nationalhighways.co.uk/our-roads/east-midlands/a38-derby-junctions/.