Green groups have reacted angrily to the news that the government efforts to reduce congestion on major roads by 5% by the end of the decade are failing.

A spokesman for the Department for Transport (DoT) said levels of congestion were higher than forecast two years ago.

"This, coupled with higher long-term economic growth forecasts, means that it is now unlikely that we will meet the target set then," he said.

But environmental groups say the government has given in to the powerful roads lobby.

The government should have concentrated more on improving public transport Friends of the Earth

Friends of the Earth (FoE) transport campaigner Roger Higman said: "This is extremely bad news and consigns another generation of travellers to more misery, more congestion and environmental degradation.

"The government should have concentrated more on improving public transport.

"By trying to please the roads lobby, the government is ultimately failing everybody.

"For 20 years, environmental groups have been saying it is foolish to try to provide for car users."

All the transport department is promising us is more roads, more congestion and more pollution Green Party principal speaker Darren Johnson

Green Party principal speaker Darren Johnson, a member of the Greater London Assembly, told BBC News Online: "This statement shows Labour has completely given up on trying to reduce traffic.

"All the transport department is promising us is more roads, more congestion and more pollution."

FoE spokesman Neil Verlander called the statement "incredibly disappointing".

He told BBC News Online: "The government has hoisted the white flag to the roads lobby."

Mr Verlander recalled that when Labour came to power in 1997, deputy prime minister John Prescott said road traffic would reduce within five years.

The answer is not to just build more and more roads Council for the Protection of Rural England

"That has not happened," he said.

Green groups are still reeling from Mr Darling's announcement earlier this week that included a �3bn road building programme as part of a �5.5bn package of nationwide transport improvements.

Mr Verlander told BBC News Online: "The partial U-turn we saw this week sends all the wrong signals.

"The money spent on roads should be spent on public transport," he added.

"We need to be spending far more money on having a transport system that gives people affordable and reliable alternatives to their cars - public transport, walking or cycling.

"We need to get people out of their cars - but the government seems afraid of that.

Getting worse

"And the public transport system we have is pretty poor."

The package includes �600m extra to local councils for road maintenance; widening the M6 between Manchester and Birmingham to four lanes and the M1 to four lanes through the East Midlands.

But campaigners say it is not surprising congestion is getting worse if the government's answer is just to build more roads.

Mr Verlander told BBC News Online: "We cannot build our way out of this.

Radical approach

"More roads mean more traffic and more congestion.

"Increasing road capacity might give a brief respite - but traffic levels are rising and more capacity means more traffic."

Head of communications at the Council for the Protection of Rural England Nick Schoon added: "The answer is not to just build more and more roads.

"The problem needs a more radical approach."