THE Marton Crawl has been dogging Middlesbrough for years, and it has got worse with added estates and new traffic lights.

There could be a new entrance for NHS staff only to the new south car parks via Alan Peacock Way and we have the new James Cook railway station.

However we are against the proposed link road between the trunk road and Ladgate Lane following the railway line.

This would be very detrimental to Ormesby Beck that has water voles protected by law, result in two more sets of traffic lights and also a dangerous junction by the Ladgate Lane railway bridge.

Another upgrade proposed is a widening of the Dixons Bank road to a longer three lanes on the south approach to the Southern Cross lights, with the idea that more people will turn left and eventually take the Bluebell/ Acklam Road way into Middlesbrough.

I don’t see this being very likely. This would also result in the removal of ten to 20 mature trees and the cycleway.

In the next two to five years as battery prices halve I would expect to see a significant increase of E-bikes (bicycles with electric motor assist that can reach 20mph).

They are also eligible for the Government Cycle to Work scheme.

The number of people cycling will also continue to increase – if the time taken to get into work is equivalent to that of driving – why not cycle and get fitter?

I would also re-visit the car sharing options for the NHS, council, university and other big employers as most car users are single occupancy. A quarter of the traffic is the hospital.

A good way to incentivise car sharing is to allocate preferential parking spaces to car sharers. Such a scheme would need to be administered, perhaps by use of a permit system, and monitored regularly.

This would mean less emissions, less cars, be safer and be a lot cheaper.

Rob Tucker, co-ordinator, Middlesbrough & Redcar Friends of the Earth