Agreeing a new long-term vision for the national transport system and pushing for a national spatial strategy are among the priorities of the County Surveyors’ Society new president, John Deegan.
Deegan has been elected as the first non-engineer in the role in the society’s 121-year history, which, he says, reflects the fact that its members now have broader responsibilities, covering waste management, economic development and planning sustainable communities, as well as transport.
The director of planning and transportation at Warwickshire County Council has served as a member of the CSS since 1994, and played a role in the successful lobbying for county councils to retain a statutory duty for strategic planning.
Deegan told Surveyor last week that the CSS’s major study into steps that would have to be taken post-2030, once present policies have run their course, would be a contribution to the debate over next year’s Comprehensive Spending Review. ‘The society believes that, even with national road-user charging and national school and workplace transport plan coverage, there’ll still be growth pressures.’
A new CSS ‘strategic policy statement’ was likely to include a recognition of the need for a national spatial strategy to help encourage economic development across the country.