ROAD campaigners in Lancaster are once again calling on the city council to forget about building a new road from the M6 to Heysham. Members of the council's Transportation Service Group were discussing plans for the city's road network at a meeting yesterday afternoon. And the proposals - part of the 1997/98 Transport Policies and Programme submission by the County Council to the Government - could still feature the request for a new M6 link and a city centre relief road.

Campaigners feel that could take the future of Lancaster's roads up a 'cul-de-sac', especially after the recent rejection of the much debated Western Bypass. They want to see the attention, and Government cash, switched from road building to Traffic reduction measures.

Mark Johnston from North Lancashire Friends of the Earth said: "It is now very clear from the Department of Transport that the road building option will not be supported.

"Lancaster City Council's current plans are therefore leading us up a cul-de-sac. With no prospect of building new roads in or around Lancaster, the time is right for new ideas and new policies to reduce traffic.

"We will be asking people to use their cars less frequently and insisting on the authorities to deliver the means to make that possible."

And the environmentally friendly group are going to be pressing for exactly that over the next 12 months. On Saturday a new campaign, in coalition with the Lancaster Green Party, will be launched aimed at reducing the city's traffic.

The area's two MPs and the city council will now come under pressure to support the Road Traffic Reduction Bill in Parliament. Should that bill be passed the Government would be obliged to draw up a national road traffic reduction plan.

Mark Johnston added: "We believe traffic reduction is the only workable solution. The city council would do well to support our Parliamentary initiative."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.