Number 10 has recognised a need for 'improvements in local transport governance' as a key challenge facing his new transport secretary.
Prime Minister ~Tony Blair~ wrote to Douglas Alexander last week to set out 'the challenges ahead' for the Government and his new department. He urged Alexander to work closely with the new local government secretary Ruth Kelly on the white paper on reform of local government reform to ensure that it 'provides a firm basis from which to implement proposals for improvements in local transport governance'.
Blair's intervention came as independent Government advisor Sir Michael Lyons called for councils to be given levers to help make major road, tram and railway projects a reality.