We have another Crowd Justice page. Please help by donating to and / or sharing this link: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/stop-the-a38-road-expansion-for-good/ 

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported our campaign to stop the A38 expansion. Because of your help, we were able to successfully halt the A38 expansion with a legal challenge last year, and the development consent order (DCO) was quashed by the Courts. 

However, National Highways are still trying to push this scheme through – even though the latest IPCC report stated that any further delay in global action to cut carbon pollution “will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.” 

Yet National Highways are trying to claim that Net Zero carbon targets do not apply to their polluting and destructive road building. They believe they are above the law and are trying to cheat the laws of physics. Their disregard for carbon emissions, pollution and the destruction of nature that their roads cause shows that they just do not care. They are sacrificing our children's futures for more tarmac and traffic. 

Road traffic miles must be reduced to meet climate targets (electric vehicles won't be enough) so the UK Government should be heavily investing in public transport and active travel. Yet instead they are wasting billions on new roads and road expansions which will increase traffic and carbon pollution. 

Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State for Transport, has asked for information from both National Highways and "interested parties" (such as our campaign group) to submit evidence so that he can consider granting another development consent order to allow the A38 expansion to go ahead. 

We submitted representations in October 2021 and we are currently challenging the Secretary of State's decision-making process via the planning inspectorate website. 

We continue to argue that we are in a climate and ecological emergency and that wasting £250 million on widening a road that will fell thousands of trees, remove large amounts of precious wildlife habitat and increase traffic makes absolutely no sense and is unlawful. It’s also an insulting waste of public money during a cost of living crisis!

The carbon costs of the scheme have increased, which requires the benefit/cost ratio to be revaluated. Yet National Highways have failed to do this.  They've also failed to properly explain how they have assessed the cumulative carbon impacts of the scheme – these were the grounds they conceded on in our original legal challenge in 2021.

With the net zero strategy's carbon targets we have a strong argument to stop the A38 expansion. We can win. However, we need to hire legal experts again to help us form and present these arguments. We need to raise £7,500 (we have already raised over £5,000).

Please help by donating to and / or sharing this link: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/stop-the-a38-road-expansion-for-good/

Many other groups campaigning against road schemes and harmful development plans are watching the A38 Derby Junctions road scheme closely. Our legal challenge has already inspired other climate-related legal challenges and is forcing developers to properly consider climate impacts and the law. If we are successful, we could prevent even more carbon pollution and nature destruction and force the Government to take climate action seriously. 

Please donate if you can. Your donation, no matter how small, will help us put a stop to the destructive A38 expansion for good. If you can’t donate, please consider sharing the link with your friends, family and on your social media. 

We are so grateful for your support.

Thank you.

We have some great news for you! Transport Minister Grant Shapps has admitted that he acted unlawfully when he approved the A38 Derby Junctions road scheme in January. The High Court will now quash the planning permission for the scheme.

Shapps conceded that his decision to approve the road expansion breached Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) regulations by failing to provide a reasoned conclusion on the development’s cumulative climate impacts with other road schemes in meeting the UK’s national climate targets.

The High Court will now quash the Development Consent Order and the Department for Transport (DfT) will pay the legal costs. We’ll continue to monitor the situation carefully and hold the DfT to account on any further decisions in relation to the A38.

The £250 million for this road should now be invested in sustainable forms of transport to reduce CO2 emissions, congestion and air pollution while conserving Derby's green spaces.
We’re in a climate emergency and ecological crisis and urgently need to cut CO2 emissions and stop destroying nature. The climate crisis is the greatest threat that humanity has ever faced, so why are the Government and local councils are still failing to act? When will they stop prioritising short-term economic growth over the future of our planet?

We cannot thank the kind and generous people like you enough. It’s because of people like you that we were able to fund this legal challenge. We are so grateful that you donated to and shared our Crowd Justice page. The comments you made on the page really spurred us on. You made a difference. We really couldn’t have done it without you.

We’ll use the funds we’ve raised so far, thanks to your generous donations, towards further legal advice in monitoring the situation going forwards.  So watch this space….

A member of the Stop the A38 Expansion Group, who used to work as a gardener for Derby City Council, has estimated that the planned A38 expansion will cause the destruction of around 100,000 trees.

Simon Beavis worked for the Council in the 1980s and planted some of the trees which are to be felled. These trees were themselves planted as mitigation for those that were lost when the A38 through Derby was first built.

Highways England has never counted the number of trees it is condemning, so Mr Beavis decided to visit the areas affected and work it out for himself. He set out 20 square metre grids at various places along the route and counted the number of trees in the grid, then scaled up to the total area and calculated that around 100,000 would be chopped down.

He is sad and angry, after watching these trees grow and flourish, that they are to be ripped out to be replaced with tiny saplings, all to reduce people’s journey times by a few minutes in rush hour.

The trees to be felled currently support tens of thousands of birds, mammals, butterflies and countless other creatures, as well as absorb pollution and carbon dioxide. They include the much-loved 300-year-old veteran oak that has been named 'Middle Oak'.

The Planning Inspectorate admits that there will be adverse effects to nature in the short- and medium-term, in particular as a result of the removal of local wildlife sites along the route and the veteran oak tree. Its report states that the loss of these weigh significantly against approval being made for the scheme.

Here’s a list of the trees that are to be cut down:

• All the trees at Kingsway Island and its approaches from the south
• The trees alongside the boundary of Mackworth Park
• Virtually all the trees on either side of the road from Kingsway island to Markeaton
• All the trees on the central reservation
• Nearly all the trees on the southbound side from Abbey Hill roundabout to Little Eaton roundabout
• At Little Eaton roundabout there will be a large area for the construction compound and so most of the woodland on the Breadsall side will be destroyed

Trees are so important – for people, for wildlife and for cleaner air. They also help to combat climate change. The Woodland Trust states that a hectare of trees can soak up 400 tonnes of carbon, but the Department for Transport wants 100,000 trees to be chopped down for a scheme that will itself create 131,000 tonnes of carbon! This decision is dangerous, irresponsible and totally irrational!

We desperately need to raise money if we are to stand any chance of stopping this destructive road being built. Please give whatever you can – even if you have already donated. Tell as many people as you can and ask them to donate, too. Please share this page far and wide! We appreciate it so much. Thank you!

We are delighted that we have raised over £6,000 in just a few days! This shows the strength of opposition to the A38 expansion in Derby. Thank you so much to the amazing people who have donated so far. We really appreciate your generosity and your concern about the environment. Thanks to you, we have been able to pay for specialist lawyers to review whether the Department of Transport’s decision to approve the A38 Derby Junctions road scheme was lawful. Our lawyers believe there are grounds to challenge the decision and are proceeding with this.

We now need to urgently achieve our target of £20,000 so that we can continue to a judicial review. It’s crucial that we raise this amount as the planned scheme will increase pollution, reduce air quality, encourage more traffic, increase congestion in the long run, fell hundreds of trees and destroy precious wildlife habitat – all this in a climate emergency! Once it’s concreted over, there’s no going back. We have to stop this scheme before the damage is done.

Top climate scientist, Corinne Le Quéré, has warned that building new roads “would be very detrimental” to the environment and that emission levels could be much higher than pre-Covid levels if the Government prioritises the economy over climate change. She said that we need to protect existing trees while also planting more and restoring areas of nature, but the Government is doing the opposite. It is recklessly spending billions of pounds on building new roads, emitting hundreds of thousands of tons of CO2 into our atmosphere, worsening the climate crisis, felling trees and destroying nature in the process. We can’t let this continue.

Simon Alcock, of ClientEarth, said: “Ministers seem unwilling to find money to protect children from traffic pollution around schools but are happy to spend billions on roads.”

If we are successful in fighting this new road scheme, it would have a huge, national knock-on effect in helping to stop other polluting new roads being built around the country. This would make a massive difference in helping the UK keep to its carbon reduction pledges – which are very unlikely to be achieved as things stand.

Please help us raise our target amount by donating whatever you can – even if you’ve already donated - and by sharing this page far and wide! Please ask your family, friends and colleagues to donate, too. It’s absolutely vital that we raise these funds – it’s the only chance we have of stopping this destructive road being built.

We can’t do this without you!

Thank you.

“Never before have we had such an awareness of what we are doing to the planet and never before have we had the power to do something about that.” 
Sir David Attenborough

“Surely, we all have a responsibility to care for our planet. The future of humanity and, indeed, all life on earth now depends on us.” 
Sir David Attenborough