We all hate roads. They pollute our lungs, destroy our hearing, degrade the environment and are a blight on the countryside. Driving on them can be a fraught experience, and it is a given that living next to a busy road is highly undesirable. Yet somehow, despite all these obvious negatives, governments – both Labour and Conservative – always seem to successfully justify huge road-building programmes that are all too willingly paid for by the Treasury.
The Labour government must swiftly resolve this contradiction. It has inherited a massive road-building programme estimated to be worth up to £27bn, enough at least to fill a good proportion of the famous £22bn black hole. Louise Haigh, the transport secretary, is a minister in a hurry; indeed, her motto is “move fast and fix things”. However, the very ambiguity of that phrase highlights the dilemma. Building roads is presented by its powerful supporters as the best way to move fast.
