Scathing report blasts DfT for ‘lack of vision’

18 June 2008

The Government should simplify Local Transport Plan funding arrangements and re-examine its national road-pricing policy, MPs have recommended in a scathing critique of the Department for Transport’s annual report.

The all-party transport select committee accused the DfT of lacking vision and ‘stalling in making a clear decision’ on a number of areas.

‘There is a danger that the policy-making process could become bogged-down,’ the committee said. ‘The department clearly has substantial issues that need to be resolved, but at the moment, there appears to be a lack of clear, tangible vision – at least none that is communicated to the wider world.’

It urged the DfT to simplify the LTP ‘excessively-complex’ funding system and improve the quality and availability of information available to local authorities.

‘We are also concerned that some local authorities may be unable to fund the additional borrowing necessitated by these arrangements.’

The committee cited councils’ concerns that, as the funds have been provided as supported borrowing approvals and not grants, floor authorities will be unable to fund the additional borrowing. It said little progress had been made with road pricing, especially as local authorities had shown little appetite for submitting TIF bids.

Local road-pricing schemes could not be effective pilots for a national scheme, so ‘we recommend that the Government re-examine its policy with respect to national road pricing’. The committee was ‘deeply concerned’ about the increases in projected costs of planned road scheme identified by the Nichols report (Surveyor, 20 March 2008), which could result in the ‘cancellation of other, much-needed improvements’.

The DfT’s approach to its new Public Service Agreement targets ‘lack clarity’. The report states: ‘There is no clear link between the new PSA targets and the Eddington priorities. It also criticised the DfT for not planning to assess the risks of first-generation biofuels in the short term, and for not giving ‘sufficient weight’ to climate change adaptations, both with regard to planning decision and maintenance funding.

‘The department has made some progress in addressing its major objectives, but the overall picture is disappointing,’ the MPs concluded. Matthew Lugg, chair of County Surveyors’ Society engineering committee, said the committee raised a number of issues which the CSS would relate to, namely TIF bidding, the allocation of LTP funding arrangements and the impact of the Nichols review.

‘But it’s also important to appreciate that the DfT has made significant steps forward in a number of areas – such as in meeting its road safety and public transport targets,’ he added.

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Scathing report blasts DfT for ‘lack of vision’

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