Just because something involves recycling it isn't necessarily good. Last week there were reports of a proposal to use recycled tyres to produce new road surfaces.

The idea is that the old tyres can produce an effective road covering to be applied over disused old railway lines, many of which were cut by Beeching. Doing this would recycle millions of old tyres that would otherwise be burned, buried, etc.

Full marks for the recycling - but a big "doh" for laying new roads.

Any environmental advantage from the (one off) gain of recycling is going to be more than offset by the (continuing) pollution created by more traffic. New roads only solve congestion in the short term; in the long term they just encourage more traffic until they themselves are full.

To be fair, the scheme's proponents do suggest that trams could also run on the new roads along with the cars. But since it looks like there'd be no room for overtaking or dedicated lanes, these "trams" would be little more than small buses. Cars are clearly the intended way forward for this plan.

These old lines do have huge potential - not as roads but as cycle tracks, tram lines or even new rail links. That's what was done with the Croydon tram scheme. Old railway lines were used for much of the tramway and it worked superbly.

Imagine how much the public transport system could be improved with another 9,000 miles of rail and tram lines, footpaths and cycle tracks. Now that would be a "green" approach. And, of course, the irony of using old car tyres to lay new tram and cycle ways would be delicious.

Whilst the old rail lines remain there is still a chance to undo some of the butchery of the Beeching era. Turning the lines into yet more roads will destroy that opportunity for ever.