The Green Party is calling for a five-year moratorium on urban road building.

The call, part of the party's transport policy, comes as urban development lobby group Campaign for a Better City (CBC) today launches its 'Alternative Route' campaign to stop Wellington's innercity motorway development.

Green Party Transport Spokesperson Sue Kedgley said CBC's campaign fitted well with Green Party policies.

"We strongly support their initiative and will take it as part of our policy into the new Parliament," she said.

The Green Party is the only party committed to ending Wellington's inner city bypass and Auckland's eastern motorway, Ms Kedgley said.

As well as the five-year moratorium, the Green Party says it will push for sustainable transport policies and properly funded public transport to be introduced.

"Our cities need more walking and cycling facilities, incentives for car pooling, more local places for people to meet and innovations such home shopping to cut down on vehicle use and make cities more accessible and liveable," Ms Kedgley said.

"We know that expanding the roading capacity and building new motorways such as the Inner City bypass isn't going to ease congestion in Wellington. All it will do is increase the number of cars on the road."

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>