Proposals for service stations at Junction 6 and Junction 7 of the M3, close to Basingstoke, have been made. Both Maria Miller, Basingstoke’s MP, and the Borough Council Labour Party are opposed to these proposals; so is Cycle Basingstoke.
TWO petitions are doing the rounds. One is an e-petition from Kim Taylor, Labour party, aimed at Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, and is at
http://www.kimtaylor.online/petitions-and-campaigns/j7/
Maria Miller has instigated the second and it can be found, with explanation, at
Unfortunately it is a paper petition and you have to print it out and POST it to Maria at The Mount, Bounty Road, Basingstoke RG21 3DD
Why is BTN in particular opposed to M3 service stations? Maria, Kim and local residents give enough reasons on their webpages (above), but BTN’s specific reasons are:
- Air pollution – the M3 is not recognised by Basingstoke Council as a source of air pollution, but when traffic is not flowing freely, which includes manoeuvring in a service station car park and accelerating after leaving the service station, it produces more pollution than when speeding by;
- Modal shift – in the long run, the current model of transport in the UK, with private cars and commercial vehicles driven by human drivers and using fossil fuels and with long-distance road freight the norm, is unsustainable and incompatible with Paris Accord decarbonisation targets. Building more service stations simply encourages the current model.