Institution calls for 30-year national transport strategy

15 October 2008

The Institution of Civil Engineers has called for a 30-year national transport strategy as part of a 10-step plan to reduce congestion and cut CO₂ emissions.

In its latest State of the nation report, ICE recommends integrated transport authorities deliver the strategy through integrated transport plans. It urges the Government to step back and allow ITAs to manage their own integrated transport solutions, such as defining the routes and frequency of buses in order to provide a real alternative to the car. It backs the use of the Transport for London model elsewhere in the UK, ‘creating authorities with responsibility for all aspects of the planning and enhancement of integrated transport networks’.

It also recommends that TfL-style planning powers be devolved to every urban authority, in order to speed up the delivery of infrastructure projects.

It welcomes the Planning Bill currently passing through parliament, in particular, its provision for an Infrastructure Planning Commission, which will ensure the decision-making process is ‘transparent, in line with national strategy, and not overruled by short-term political interests’. In order to enhance bus capacity and reputation, the report urges the Government to move forward with its plan to reform the bus services operators’ grant by removing the link between fuel usage and bus subsidy levels.

‘This would allow the introduction of better targeted support for much-needed routes,’ it says.

The institution also backs the introduction of further tram schemes – which have boosted public transport usage in areas such as Manchester, Sheffield and Nottingham – in other towns and cities. The report proposes shifting vehicle tax to ‘point of use’ payments, much like rail or bus travel, in order to directly address the culture of car dependency.

‘Road-users pay the Treasury £5bn a year in vehicle excuse duty. These costs could be transferred from taxes on to the cost of the journey itself.’ It also calls for the creation of a clear link between transport costs and transport funding, with at least a portion of money from any road-user charging scheme ploughed directly back into the transport network to meet the objectives of the 10-step plan.

Bob Donaldson, president of the Technical Advisors Group, said the report ‘should come as a timely reminder to the Government to take forward the findings of the Eddington report’. ‘An integrated transport framework will provide the Government with the opportunity to demonstrate how Eddington recommendations are being delivered. Decisions on major transport investment appear, currently, to lack cohesion,’ he told Surveyor. ‘Hopefully, the Government will respond by providing a clear timescale for delivery of the framework.’ •

Click here to read the State of the nation report

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