What are the alternatives?

The Save Swallow's Wood campaign supports the Way to Go initiative put forward by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), which is pressing Councillors, MPs, and the Peak District National Park to reject the bypass scheme and consider instead a number of measure designed to alleviate the traffic problems and generally improve local transport without causing damage to the environment.

This alternative approach calls for:

Weight limits on the A57/628, forcing heavy goods traffic onto the existing M1/M62 motorway network and away from the Peak District National Park
Traffic calming in the villages on the A628 and A57 to prevent rat running.
A ‘Streets for People’ programme in all residential areas to encourage walking and cycling.
Continental-style safe routes to school.
Travel-to-work plans.
Integrated bus and train services throughout the Peak District and improved facilities for pedestrians and cyclists.
Discount travel by public transport.
Improved public transport links and safe cycle routes to local railway stations.
A new railway station at Gamesely and improved services at existing stations.

We also want to see the Translink proposal back on the table and given the serious attention it deserves, as a progressive solution to our problems, creating further benefits for our community, such as enabling (through the reopening of the Woodhead Tunnel) much needed direct rail links between Glossop and Sheffield.

Translink

Translink proposal to reopen the Woodhead Tunnel to freight, providing access from a terminal just off the M1 (Sheffield), through the Longdendale Valley and Glossop, and on to Hattersley. With the tunnel reopened, there is no reason why this route could not also be opened to passenger trains, providing local people with a much needed public transport link into West Yorkshire. For Hattersley, there would the opportunity for regeneration and industry growth.

This solution would:

Take HGV traffic off the A57/A628 altogether, reducing traffic on this route by 40%.
Increased safety: reduced number of accidents, no HGVs cross the Peak Park during bad weather conditions.
Reduce noise and air pollution by at least 20%
Reopen and make use of the Woodhead Tunnel, that so many local families worked hard to create. See www.translinkuk.com for more information.

Impose Weight Limits on the A628 Route

This solution would force HGVs coming from Sheffield and the M1 to travel to Manchester via the existing M1/M62 motorway network, for which it was intended. Removing HGVs from the A628 would drastically improve the lives of all residents of the villagers on that route and would make way for a realistic assessment of the impacts of local traffic and development of suitable local level initiatives, without the need for causing permanent, irreparable damage to our valley.

Improve Safety and Speed Restrictions on the A628

Safety is an issue through the villages and through the Park. This route is dangerous in winter and there are many accidents caused by poor weather, too much speed, dangerous overtaking, and the winding nature of the road. Strict speed limits and speed cameras at strategic points would greatly improve safety for drivers and residents. A good example of where a speed camera is badly needed is at Millbrook, where lorries and drivers use the road as a rollercoaster and accelerate out of Tintwistle and Hollingworth, making it unsafe for pedestrians along the entire route into Tintwistle.