Originally Posted by
Rjk
I took a bit of an interest in it the last time it was being seriously discussed, I know an economist in the government was part of the team who worked on it.
I think it was ultimately lobbying pressure from the Bristol port that did for it.
The environmental concerns would have been easily dismissed if the numbers added up.
With the price of fuel today it'd probably pay for itself in no time.
I remember reading transcripts of hansard discussing the proposal, can't remember if it was the commons or lords, but there was a very disappointing level of ignorance around the discussion. People were speaking out against it for reasons that were entirely erroneous, and they never seemed to be corrected - everyone just made their pre prepared speech and then onto the next piece of business.
None of the proposals presented back then included the option of a road on top, which would presumably increase the cost. I think it was about £20 bn from memory but i could have that completely wrong, less than the cost of a non functioning test and trace system anyway, and it would provide dirt cheap energy for 200 years