BRF closes as 11 bn
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is promised to roads
• by Sally Nash The British Road Federation has been forced to close its doors after nearly 70 years of lobbying for better roads—in the same week that the government announced a 21bn roads package.
The BRF, which has been campaigning since the early 1930s for an expanded roads programme to curb congestion, has pulled the plug as a result of dwindling financial reserves.
Sources close to the BRF say that a lack of funding from members was partly behind the decision to close. However, it is believed that the federation could re-emerge in a different format later in the year.
The federation's board will meet before the autumn to discuss various options for the future which could include a newstyle BRF focusing on research and monitoring rather than lobbying. In the meantime some of BRF's functions are being taken
on by the Confederation of British Industry.
The BRF closure came as the government gave the green light to a raft of new transport schemes designed to tackle congestion and pollution.
Among a series of road
widening initiatives and bypasses are three controversial schemes shelved in the 1998 review: an £82m upgrade to the A46; new link roads at Junction 6 of the M62; and an enhancement of the A595 dual carriageway in Cumbria.
The Freight Transport Association has welcomed the measures. However, the Tories are accusing Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott of pandering to the car lobby in the run-up to the general election.