Completed petition Stop the Red Route (A55/A494 corridor)

We call on the National Assembly of Wales to urge the Welsh Government to withdraw its support for the "Red Route" (A55/A494/A548 Deeside Corridor Improvement) on the grounds that: 

1) The construction of the new road through ancient woodland, and across agricultural land, contradicts Planning Policy Wales and the Well-being of Future Generations Act.

2) The recently published plans for a new A494 Dee Bridge, widening of the A494 and other improvements will deliver the Deeside traffic improvements without the need for the ‘Red Route’. 

3) The costs used to justify the choice of the “Red Route” failed to account for necessary upgrade of the Flintshire Bridge. It also does not include the addition of crawler lane at a major congestion point on the A55, the hill out of Northop towards Holywell. Congestion at these points will be made worse by the construction of the Red Route. The underestimate of the costs used imply that the proposed road cannot be considered value for money. Furthermore, the costs do not include the proposed A494 improvements (outlined in 2). 

4) The choice of the Red Route was based on unrepresentative traffic surveys. 

5) In considering the Red Route the Welsh Government failed to adequately consult residents of the Flint and Northop areas despite the major potential impact on their communities. Despite costing over a quarter of a billion pounds, the new road would be likely to lead to more traffic congestion in these communities. 

6) The International Panel on Climate Change has called for urgent action to reduce C02 emissions, saying we have only 12 years left to save the world’s climate. We need to be investing our limited resources in sustainable transport like rail.