|
Tyne Crossings Alliance (TCA)
about us | more information | contact us
The Tyne Crossings Alliance was formed by national and local campaigning groups in the Spring of 2001 to oppose a scheme by the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority (TWPTA) to build a second road tunnel under the Tyne from Jarrow, in South Tyneside, to Willington Quay near North Shields in North Tyneside.
We maintain that the proposed new tunnel would:
- increase congestion and create greater problems in the future
- further promote the A19 as a through route bringing yet more noise and pollution
- reverse Government policies on traffic restraint
- further severely damage the community and town of Jarrow
- further damage the already divided community of Willington Quay
- lead to new 'rat runs' and a greatly increased 'rat run' nuisance for residents both north and south of the River.
- increase air pollution
- increase noise and vehicle nuisance throughout the Region
- confer no overall economic benefit
- exacerbate destruction of the countryside
- deny the necessary alternative of traffic restraint and improved public transport
- changes sought by the TWPTA since the Inquiry would lead to much higher tolls, threaten open-ended claims on Council Tax, and deny local people the right to enjoy certain public open spaces.
The current membership of the Alliance is CPRE, Friends of the Earth (FOE), Living Streets, Railway Development Society North East (railfuture ne), Roadpeace, The Green Party, Transport 2000 and Tynebikes. We liaise with the North East Combined Transport Activists Roundtable (NECTAR). All Alliance member organisations are represented by individuals who live in the Region, and several of these individuals live in the two Tyneside Boroughs most at risk from the tunnel proposals. We do not, however, directly represent local residents who continue to speak through their own local groups.
We decided to widen the objective of the Alliance to include other Tyne crossings and to support an extension of the light rail Metro from South Shields to North Shields under the Tyne when our main object of preventing the construction of a road tunnel had been achieved. We believe that this alternative crossing would comprise a less disruptive, much more environmentally friendly and more affordable alternative to a new road tunnel, if the need for better access across the Tyne can be proved.
The Alliance campaigned for a Public Inquiry to be held and this was achieved, starting on 4th March 2003. At the time of writing (22nd February 2005) a decision is awaited from the Secretary of State for Transport, Alastair Darling. Alliance members were present throughout the Inquiry, and the Alliance's submissions at the hearing, and made subsequently as requested by the Department for Transport, together with those of its separate member organisations and others, can be viewed on the Alliance's Website at www.tyne-crossings.org.
|
related...
There's more information about the TCA at our own website, including press releases, photos, submissions and more:
www.tyne-crossings.org |
| To email the Government and register your objection to the Tyne Tunnel scheme, visit stopthetunnel - it only takes seconds!
www.stopthetunnel.tk |
|
