Sustainable transport measures must have a greater role in councils’ future local transport planning, according to the Department for Transport (DfT).
John Dowie, the DfT’s director of regional and local transport delivery, told the CSS conference that ‘smarter travel choices’, such as cycling and walking, were likely to become major elements of local transport plans in the face of major public spending cuts.
He bemoaned the fact that sustainable transport had been given lip service in the past, saying it now needed a stronger footing.
Mr Dowie added the drivers for these transport options were not just financial. Councils’ environmental responsibilities and the ‘rising carbon agenda’ were powerful incentives, while evidence had emerged from the DfT’s demonstrator sustainable transport towns that the measures could work.
Mr Dowie warned against the negative terminology such as ‘soft measures’ that had tainted these transport planning tools.
‘Soft measures they certainly are not,’ he said. ‘Sustainable travel is not marginal anymore.’ Mr Dowie acknowledged that the measures needed a stronger footing in planning. He was optimistic about the role of sustainable transport cities to explore the options on a larger scale.
The DfT is due to publish sustainable travel guidance early next week.
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