Protestors call for Link Road re-think
Extinction Rebellion join Viewforth demo
Campaigners staged a protest outside Stirling Council’s headquarters on Saturday over the proposed Viewforth Link Road.
Residents, politicians and also representatives of climate change campaigners Extinction Rebellion called on the council to review its decision to build the road in light of the authority recently having backed a climate change emergency motion.
The Viewforth Link Road (VLR) was narrowly approved by the council’s planning panel in June despite a total of 166 objections, including from ones from King’s Park and Braehead and Broomridge community councils.
The decision now has to be ratified by the Scottish Government planning reporter but critics have asked Ministers to call in the application and reject it.
The scheme will see 31 trees removed, 28 of which are within a Conservation Area.
The new route will run through Viewforth between the St Ninians Road junction with Snowdon Place and the Linden Avenue roundabout near Waitrose. It will create an inner city ring road which council officials claim would help reduce unnecessary traffic in the city centre. Council roads and infrastructure officials argue the route is a vital component of a wider transport strategy for Stirling.
However, an Extinction Rebellion spokesperson told the Observer: “We believe we should address the issue of traffic and car pollution by trying to get cars out of the equation, instead of just diverting the problem to other residential areas.
“While there have been significant reductions of emissions in other sectors, a third of carbon emissions in the UK still come from transport. It is alarming that the council is still affecting our local communities with road building projects that will fail on their own terms, by actually increasing the number of cars on our roads, meaning more pollutants and carbon emissions at a huge cost to taxpayers.
“More than £2million is being spent in an obsolete plan that should be invested in real solutions to car traffic. We demand more investment and improvements in public transport, connected cycling networks and many other proposals that would help to reduce traffic.
“We have sent to the council a report, ‘Sustaining Stirling,’ detailing recommendations and including other councils examples addressing the climate crisis, with a different approach.”
Green politicians MSP Mark Ruskell, general election candidate Bryan Quinn and councillor Alasdair Tollemache were among those at the protest, which organisers stressed was a non-political event.
Councillor Tollemache said: “I put an amendment to the council to suspend plans for the road when it recently declared a climate emergency. The SNP/Labour administration rejected this. I repeat my appeal to the administration to listen to the community and review their decision.”
Mr Quinn added: “The construction of this unwanted £2m white elephant has no proven benefits for our community but will have a harmful environmental impact with increased pollution levels. The road will ruin the potential for affordable housing on the Viewforth site. SNP and Labour have abandoned the communities of Kings Park and Braehead to a road traffic nightmare.”
Tory candidate Stephen Kerr, who objected to the road during his time as Stirling’s MP, also attended. He said: “The VLR is going to be hugely expensive and have little, if any, tangible benefit. There is no need to build a huge road to install a cycling route and we could see the money invested in safe cycle routes across the city.”