M25 Widening: Debate reaches its 'Stalingrad': Christian Wolmar and Nicholas Schoon look at the shift in government thinking in the face of a fierce 'green' campaign

The plan to widen part of the M25, the London orbital motorway, in Surrey and Buckinghamshire is the 'Stalingrad of the transport debate', according to local campaigners.

The scheme's opponents - seemingly everyone within the vicinity of the road - hold out little hope that the roads review will lead to the dropping of the pounds 200m scheme, but are confident that ultimately they will win.

The Department of Transport wants to widen the M25 for 13 miles between junctions 12 and 16 (the M3 to the M40), turning the motorway into a 12 and 14-lane

super-highway. At one point, near the village of Thorpe, there will be 20 lanes. It calls the extra lanes 'link roads', separate but adjacent to the existing carriageway and intended for local traffic. Opponents say the effect is the same - enormous swathes of concrete across London green-belt countryside.

Chris Fisher of Flame, the campaign against the link roads, said: 'This is a pointless exercise. The department says the new lanes will only be enough to cope with demand until 2015. And what will they do then - build double- decked roads?'

Hopes that the scheme might be shelved in the review have been dashed by leaks from the Department of Transport, suggesting that John MacGregor wants to see orbital schemes, supposed to keep traffic out of towns, retained in the programme while some radial schemes, which bring traffic into cities, are to be dropped. The protesters have the support of at least 10 local Tory MPs as well as all three parties on the hung Surrey County Council. The local climate has changed completely from the 1970s when there was broad support for the construction of the M25, promised as the solution to traffic problems.

With the public inquiry into the M3-to-M4 section of link roads now delayed until at least November, work on the scheme is unlikely to start before the next general election. With both Labour and the Liberal Democrats opposed, the campaigners feel that the Tories will not dare risk losing any local seats by continuing to support the scheme.

The entire M25 is eventually to be widened from dual three lanes to at least dual four lanes.

(Photograph and map omitted)