Moorland landscape under threat from a proposed bypass in the Peak District – the Campaign for Better Transport is helping local groups oppose such schemes © Emma Lawrence
The Campaign for Better Transport has used public opposition to controversial road schemes like the M3 at Twyford Down to question the road-building programme © Ecology Trust
The Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation provided a grant of £30,000 towards the costs of the Manuka Club in 2007/08.
The Manuka Club protects the British countryside by working with environmental groups campaigning against extra traffic, noise and pollution, as well as the loss of more green belt land to development. Our partners include the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) (www.bettertransport.org.uk/campaigns/climate_change/roads), which opposes the UK’s £13 billion road-building programme and promotes sustainable alternatives to car use wherever possible. Support from The Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation has enabled CBT to highlight the many downsides of road-building – which tends to offer only short-term traffic relief at very high financial and environmental cost – and now the programme is under threat from big cuts. CBT has mobilised a network of dozens of community groups against new road schemes all around the country, as local people oppose plans to widen motorways or to build bypasses through iconic landscapes such as the Peak District.
The grant has also enabled the Manuka Club to strengthen opposition to airport expansion across the South West, as airports including Bristol, Exeter, Bournemouth and Newquay contemplate large increases in passenger numbers. The newly founded South West Air Action (SWAA) (www.swairaction.org.uk) is an umbrella group for communities concerned about traffic and parking, climate impacts or any other damage caused by airport expansion. SWAA staff will help groups at each airport to develop the skills and arguments they need to challenge unnecessary growth. The umbrella approach will not only make campaigns at individual airports more effective, but allows all groups to work together at a regional level where decisions on airport futures are made.