MPs promise to cut targets for local transport plans

01 March 2007

The Government has pledged to cut the number of national targets for judging councils’ local transport plan performance.
The Department for Transport told MPs: ‘The local government White Paper indicated that local authorities would report on fewer performance indicators in future. We will review the local transport indicators in that context.’
The department plans to review – in consultation with local authority practitioners – how progress in delivering the second round of LTPs should be assessed, in time to publish the assessments ‘in 2008 at the earliest’.
A senior county official said that he would not ‘hold his breath’ that the current 14-17 mandatory indicators would be significantly reduced, given the emphasis to date on national priorities with less relevance in shire areas, such as reducing traffic volumes.
‘Having so many national targets goes against the whole Lyons “place-making” agenda – that of empowering councils to pursue local priorities to secure the wellbeing of their areas.’
Its response to the select committee’s report into local transport also reveals that the DfT is to consider making £10M the minimum cost for an LTP major scheme, as the MPs suggested. This is despite the County Surveyors’ Society warning that raising the current £5M ceiling without increasing the LTP capital funding pot was likely to make smaller bypasses or park-and-ride sites harder to fund because there was no leeway for diverting funds.
The committee had expressed concern over the high preparatory costs of developing major schemes – as much as 15% of the scheme cost – and said that raising the ceiling would lighten the burden for the £5M-£10M projects.
Local transport planning and funding: Government response : www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmtran.htm

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MPs promise to cut targets for local transport plans

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