Better Transport

26 January: We're launching today our manifesto for improving everyday transport. We'll be challlenging politicians in the run-up to the election to tell us what they would do to make it easier to travel by public transport, walking and cycling.

A lot of attention has been focused on discussions on high speed rail and aviation, but the parties need to set out how they would use government's control and influence over transport and planning to make alternatives to the car easier and cheaper to use. We're setting out straightforward, common-sense proposals that would radically improve transport while keep spending under control.

The manifesto has been jointly drawn up with the Campaign to Protect Rural England, CTC - the national cyclists' organisation, Friends of the Earth and Living Streets. We'll be launching it formally at the third of our speeches from the main party spokespeople this evening with Norman Baker MP, and we're calling on the parties to adopt our proposals as they set out their policies ahead of the general election.

19 January: The Government has responded to the Committee on Climate Change's annual progress report and has strongly backed our call for much better integration of land use planning and transport.

Alongside better coordination of transport and planning policy, delivery on the ground must be better too and we're pleased that the Government asked the Commission for Integrated Transport to look into this. They've produced a tool for those working in this field, drawing on our own masterplanning checklist.

The Government response to the progress report also gives strong support for "smarter choices" measures which promote public transport, walking and cycling. But it's a shame the Department for Transport doesn't back this up with real support for these measures. It's still holding up the funding for the "sustainable travel city" project that was announced last year.

We're calling on the Government to release the funding for the sustainable travel cities and for kickstart bus funding now. Join our call.

16 January: We've just responded to the London Plan and Mayor's Transport Strategy. The fact that both are being developed at the same time should be a great opportunity to integrate planning and transport but the failure to set out a real vision in either means this could be a missed opportunity for London.

There is much in the London Plan and Mayor's Transport Strategy that is good for London and its environment - commitment to reduce the need to travel, to support local centres and to promote more walking and cycling. But there is a failure to show how transport will contribute to reducing London's carbon emissions and some policies would increase, not reduce, traffic across the city.

Parking standards are relaxed, there is no strategy for how fares can be set to support people to use transport more sustainably and the proposed abolition of the western extension of the congestion charge zone means that car use will increase in much of London. London will face more congestion not less if Boris doesn't listen to the consultation, and we'll be lobbying hard for improvements before the final London Plan and transport strategy are published.

12 January: I've just written to all the regional government offices to ask them to make sure that the latest round of local transport plans have serious targets for cutting CO2 from transport.

Local transport authorities have to agree the next round of local transport plans (LTP3) by March 2011. This time, local councils are much freer to set out their own priorities. This could help them respond better to local needs, but they also need to contribute to the national need to cut CO2 from transport and there's a danger that they won't do enough to switch away from carbon intensive transport. The regional government offices are the only external check on LTP3s, so we're asking them to properly assess local transport plans in their region to ensure that local authorities clearly set out what they're doing on CO2.

We've set out in our briefing that the government offices need to ask tough questions when they meet with local authorities to assess progress. As well as making sure that the LTP3 addresses how public transport, walking and cycling will be made more attractive compared to car travel, the government offices need to make sure that local authorities are properly engaging with environmental and other groups when they develop their plans. This should be an opportunity to really make a difference to local transport, not just to carry on as before.

18 December: The Government this week gave in to Norfolk council and gave the go-head for the £91 million Norwich North Distributor Road despite the council's failure to make an effective case for the road. But at the same time funding for vital Kickstart funding and for pilot sustainable travel cities is being held up by the Treasury.

In the week of the Copenhagen climate talks, the Government is failing to live up to its rhetoric on climate change, locking in CO2 emissions with new road building and failing to support greener alternatives.

We're calling on transport minister Sadiq Khan to stand up to the Treasury and maintain Kickstart bus funding and the sustainable travel cities project. Please join us and tell the Government to stick to their promises to support greener transport.

8 December: Our friends at COIN have written a great new guide for community groups.

We've added it to our list of resources for groups wanting to improve transport locally - resources that can be used alongside any of the guides on our website. COIN is the Climate Outreach and Information Network.

19 November: We're calling on Boris Johnson to think again about his intention to scrap the western extension of the congestion charge as it becomes clearer that people aren't impressed with the fare rises they face as a result.

Last week, there was a two-thirds majority in favour of keeping the western extension of the congestion charge zone in a vote taken at the Mayor's People's Question Time in Brixton. Boris Johnson was attempting to answer awkward questions on his plans to increase bus fares while reducing the congestion charge zone. 

The result of the poll was reported by Val Shawcross, deputy chair of the GLA Transport Committee, speaking at the meeting of Campaign for Better Transport's London Group the following evening. She had chaired the People’s Question Time the night before.

The vote is significant. According to Val Shawcross around 1500 people attended the Question Time. They voted electronically and the result was calculated automatically. Many authoritative opinion polls have a sample of only about 1000. This may give Boris further pause for thought.

Londoners have a chance to tell Boris what they think of his plans for transport in London - you can tell him what you think of plans to cut the congestion zone and increase fares at our take action page.

13 November: How would your party reduce transport’s carbon footprint? That’s the question we have challenged each of the three main political parties to answer in a series of speeches we're hosting.

On 19 November we are hosting an important speech by Andrew Adonis the Transport Secretary. He'll outline Government plans for reducing carbon from transport and introduce a new low–carbon industrial strategy for transport, to an audience of key decision makers from the transport and environment worlds.

6 November: Today, the Government has recognised what we’ve been saying for years: car use needs to be reduced. Today it launched a campaign encouraging people to drive five miles less each week.   

This serious Government-sponsored campaign marks a big change. Up to now, the Department for Transport has put its faith in green vehicles to cut carbon, so the fact they’ve listened to us and are now looking to cut traffic and help people to change their behaviour is welcome. However, five miles a week is not enough if transport is to play its part in tackling climate change.

Plus, a reduction won’t happen at all if the Government doesn't follow up this campaign with programmes so people can actually cut their car dependency – such as lower fares, lower speeds and investment in public transport and cycling. It can be done. The sustainable travel towns and cycling demonstration towns have shown that given the right information and support, people will cut their car use and switch to alternatives.  

3 November: The Prime Minister's Strategy Unit today published a long awaited report on transport in urban areas. The report sets out a vision for transport but shows how much more is needed for Britain’s cities to catch up with European counterparts to improve both public transport and conditions for walking and cycling.

The report sets out how important a good transport system is for the health and quality of life of people living in towns and cities, and how desperately we need to have city leadership to bring together in one place powers on transport, planning and highways.

But neither central government nor local councils seem to be able to find a way to make this happen. The Department for Transport in their response to the report blame local councils for not coming up with proposals.

But local councils face a difficult task in the best way forward through an increasingly complex structure of passenger transport executives, integrated transport authorities, multi-area agreements, economic prosperity boards and combined authorities.

From our perspective, we’re calling on Government to challenge local authorities more strongly to improve transport in our towns and cities and in our response to the Government's consultation on local democracy we called city-wide local transport authorities to be equiped with the powers, funding and capability to really make a difference on transport.

29 September: I'm just back in the office after a few days at the Labour conference (we'll also be at the Conservative conference next week) and also from our successful training day for local campaigners at the weekend.

Both of these are really important in helping get change to deliver better transport. At the weekend, our local campaigners were inspired by Cllr Shona Johnstone giving us really positive examples of improving transport in Cambridgeshire, and by Victoria Harvey talking about the difference local campaigning can make. 

And this week in Brighton saw the other side of our campaigning with Stephen Joseph and me talking directly to ministers and their advisers. Transport Minister Sadiq Khan spoke at our fringe meeting and set out his commitment to continued investment in the Crossrail project and to helping local councils to use the powers in the Local Transport Act that we helped bring about.

But it's clear from meeting with Labour politicians over the past couple of days that we need a stronger message to them (and the other parties) on the price of public transport. Please help us to tell MPs and candidates to cut the price of rail fares.

14 September: We've launched today our Car Dependency Scorecard, showing for the first time how much each region is dependent on using the car to get around. The scorecard ranks each region by a range of measures, including whether people have shops and services nearby that they can walk or cycle to and whether there's good and affordable public transport.

Each region has its strength and weaknesses, but the report highlights how much more work is needed by central and local government to really tackle transport and enable people to have real choices in transport. Significantly, the North West tops our table of regions with high levels of investment in public transport, while bottom of our regions is the West Midlands with poor access to shops and services within walking distance, and new housing developments tending to be more sprawling, making walking, cycling and public transport less viable.

The car dependency scorecard shows what is needed in each region to tackle our dependency on the car. We'll be looking to see whether central and local government are serious about investing in good public transport and improving the planning of the places we live - having to use the car simply doesn't give people the chance to make a green choice in transport.

26 August 2009: Campaign for Better Transport is working with our partners at Friends of the Earth, CTC, CPRE and Sustrans to run two training days for local campaigners who want to improve transport in their local area.
 
The two days will be on:

• 19 September - Manchester : 10am-4.30pm
• 26 September - London : 10am-4.30pm

 
We’re aiming to give you an insight into how the development of the next round of local transport plans (which have to be produced by 2011) but the main focus of the day will be skills workshops - where you'll be able to share your experiences of local campaigning and explore the most effective ways of influencing your local authority.

There'll also be plenty of opportunities for networking and talking to staff and local activists.

The events are free but places are limited so you’ll need to book your place by going to the Friends of the Earth website.

5 August: I can't believe Boris wants to give 'greener' petrol and diesel cars an exemption from the Congestion Charge. We need less traffic in London, not more cars on our streets.

Transport for London has decided to review the Congestion Charge exemptions, because it thinks that low-emission vehicles should be let in for free. Hybrids are already exempted. But all cars cause congestion, even if they're greener than average.

Boris knows all this, of course. He objected to Ken's proposal to increase the charge for the most polluting vehicles but give the least polluting an exemption, saying that "the proposal would actually have made congestion worse by allowing thousands of small cars in for free."

We know people are affected by traffic, because we've been asking for your experiences, and getting some great feedback, which we'll use to convince the Government - and London's Mayor - to take action. We've outlined our solutions to London's traffic in our response to the Boris's London Plan.

31 July: Nottingham City Council today announced approval from the Department for Transport for its tram extension and for the workplace parking levy. It's been criticised by some motoring groups as unfair, but what do we think of the idea?

Well, we think that it's a pretty smart and targeted approach to tackling congestion in the City of Nottingham, where congestion levels are rising faster than in similar cities. About eight out of ten employers won't have to pay the charge as they have ten or less parking spaces (and there are exemptions for disabled parking, customer and visitor parking and loading, as well as for the health service and emergency vehicles). Those larger companies that will have to pay will be better able to plan ahead or absorb any costs, and will be able to provide support and information for their staff on alternatives (for instance through travel plans which on average cut the number of commuter journeys by car by 18%).

The levy will also start in two years time when the economy should be recovering, and by which time work will have started on the specific transport improvements that the money raised will help to pay for.

So should other councils follow suit? Well, we support Nottingham's use of the levy because of their particular problems of congestion and because they have a clear programme of public transport improvements. Other councils should only be using this if there's a clear peak time congestion problem and where they can be clear and transparent about using the money raised to give people real transport choices. We also think it's worth looking at discounts for those firms that have a good travel plan already in place and where they are working to encourage and enable staff to walk, cycle or use public transport to get to work.

16 July: I've just finished reading the Government's guide for local councils on how they should produce new local transport plans, which was published this morning. The new round of these plans should help give people real transport choices in the places where they live and work, but it's unclear what Government expects the plans to achieve.

The guidance reflects moves away from centralised control and for local councils to be "accountable to their communities rather than to the Department". As such, the Department for Transport is largely leaving it to local councils to decide what their plans look like, and what impact they might have. That's all very well, but there is little accountability for local transport policy, and people lack information on how their local council is performing on transport compared to others. And local councils still lack powers to raise income to support better transport.

We also think that much more could be done to support local councils on more sustainable transport schemes. We're pleased that yesterday's carbon reduction strategy for transport included a commitment to produce guidance on ways for local authorities to reduce CO2 through sustainable transport measures by this Autumn. But we'll be telling the Department's officials when we meet then in a couple of weeks time that much more is needed.

16 July: The eco-town sites most criticized by us and our supporters as unsustainable in transport terms, notably Weston Otmoor, Arundel and Middle Quinton, have been scrapped today, and there has been a greater emphasis on making sure those that go ahead have good rail links and local authority support. But the sustainability of the new eco-towns is all down to the detail on transport provision:

• Northwest Bicester: We welcome this, but a Bicester eco-quarter will be challenging and will need good links to the rail station
• Rackheath, Norfolk: Potentially OK as an eco-town/eco-quarter, served by rail (and with railfreight potential too), but is being linked by the county council with a new road. With this road, it would be utterly unsustainable; without it, it might work
• China Clay community scheme near St Austell, Cornwall: Sustainability in transport terms depends on detailed design and location
• Whitehill Bordon, Hampshire: While not on a railway, it could easily be and there should be a feasibility study on reopening the rail line as part of a new eco-town

Eco-town principles should be extended to “eco-quarters” within existing towns - and we're pleased that today's announcment seems to reflect that. New developments within existing urban areas will often be easier to serve by public transport than stand-alone eco-towns, and eco-quarters could also set a wider example to be followed. If the Government gets them right, the eco-towns and eco-quarters can be used to show that new development can come with low car use and hence less traffic in surrounding roads.

14 July: We've just responded today to the Government's consultation on its road safety strategy, and told them that safer streets and roads are vital to both cut deaths and cut carbon.

The UK's record overall on road safety is good, but we've a poor record on the numbers of cyclists and pedestrians who are killed or seriously injured compared with most European countries. We're calling on the Government to move to a default speed limit of 20mph in residential areas and other streets like high streets. This would save many more lives - research from London estimates that 20mph zones reduce the number killed or seriously injured by over half. And the Department for Transport estimates that reducing the speed limit on single carriageway rural roads to 50mph would save 250 lives a year, and save 1,000 serious injuries.

But lowering the speed limit would also help us to reduce the carbon impact of transport by making people feel much safer when walking or cycling. I know from talking to many communities across the country that they want to cut speed on the streets where they live - now it's up to the Government to listen to them when it publishes its final strategy in the autumn.

2 July: Boris Johnson is running out of time. Consultation on changes to the London Plan (PDF 46K) has just finished and he's still trying to please everyone, pedestrians, cyclists, bus passengers and motorists alike.

But signs about what will be in the plan itself and in the Mayor's transport strategy are ominous. Boris has not yet recognised that traffic volumes have to go down to tackle carbon emissions. Meanwhile he's considering relaxing restrictions on new roads and allowing more parking because he claims it will help town centres. In the autumn he'll have to reveal his real plans when the draft strategies are published.

Campaign for Better Transport has told the Mayor that carbon emissions from transport will have to be cut and that planning for traffic avoidance and reduction is essential to do this.

30 June: The Government published its "national plan" yesterday (Monday 29 June) setting out its plans for legislation and a range of commitments to tackle long-term problems. Building Britain's Future has welcome commitments to publishing a national cycle plan and an active travel strategy to be launched in the autumn. It also reaffirmed a commitment to improving further rail and buses' advantage over cars and planes when it comes to CO2 emissions, through plans for more electrification of the railways and incentives for low-carbon buses.

But the plan also sets out how the Government will continue to spend billions on roads and the Department for Transport is about to decide on regional funding bids which include almost £4bn for new roads. If Ministers accept these bids and continue to widen motorways, then cycling, public transport and active travel will continue to be undermined and starved of the funds needed.

We're callling on Lord Adonis to commit to building a low-carbon transport future for Britain and not to accept spending scarce public spending on yet more road building.

23 June: For the past couple of years, Campaign for Better Transport has been working with a range of other environmental organisations to make sure that changes to the planning system won't shut people out from decisions on new roads, airports and power stations.

A particular concern has been the creation of a new Infrasructure Planning Commission to speed up decisions on major infrastructure like power stations, airports and major roads. The Government have just consulted on some of the regulations for the new Commission, and on how local authorities and others should consult local communities on proposals for big infrastructure.

Our response sets out why we think the proposed guidance doesn't go far enough in giving a voice to local communities.

27 May: We're holding a workshop in June to help councils create good local transport plans. The workshop is the latest in a series of events over the year to help councils develop transport policies that result in better communities. The event is sponsored by the Department for Transport and features a speech by Paul Clark, the local transport minister.

We're holding these events in partnership with the Local Government Information Unit. Sign up today or find out more on the information unit's website. [Editor's note: these events are now closed.]

27 May: We’ve just told the London mayor how he could improve the suburbs.  With the London Cycling Campaign and Living Streets, we submitted evidence to the mayor’s Outer London Commission, which is considering the specific needs of the suburbs.

Our recommendations for creating sustainable suburbs (pdf) – which also apply outside London – include low-cost measures to make better use of the public transport network, emphasising the role of neighbourhood centres which people can reach on foot and by bike, and taking various steps to make walking and cycling more convenient than travel by car.

This commission is important. Most travel in London is done in outer London and most of it is done by car. If transport in London is going to change substantially, travel in outer London will have to change first. Let’s hope the commission understands that.

1 May: Boris Johnson may be celebrating a year in office but are Londoners celebrating too?

On the plus side, he has cancelled the Thames Gateway Road Bridge and opposed the expansion of Heathrow and is promoting a new bike hire scheme. But he has also withdrawn the £25 congestion charge for gas guzzlers, abolished the Western Extension of the Congestion Charge Zone and decided not to go ahead with the third phase of the Low Emission Zone.

The real test of whether Boris is serious about transport in London will be what he says in his transport strategy later this year. In the meantime, he has just set out his initial ideas for what should go in the London Plan, which sets the planning framework for London and how the city will develop over the next 20 years. My colleague Richard Bourn will be telling him that the plan needs to be effective at reducing the need to travel, and supporting alternatives to the car.

24 April: Ever since the concept of eco-towns was first announced by the Government, we’ve been concerned that they would become car-dependent commuter towns. We’ve just responded to the draft planning policy guidance which would do little to encourage or enable people to use their cars less.

As they’re currently envisaged, eco-towns will be islands of traffic-generating development in the middle of the countryside. Campaign for Better Transport and other groups have told the Government how to change its eco-town policy to create communities that are sustainable in transport as in other respects. In particular, we’re calling for eco-towns to be adjacent to, if not actually within, existing urban centres and for them to be connected to by rail and not just by bus. You can read what we’ve got to say on the guidance.

9 April: I just finished telling the Government how I thought it should help local councils to create good transport plans.

Local decisions matter. Although central Government determines much of our transport system, local councils are able do things like improve bus services, tackle traffic and make it easier for journeys to be made by walking and cycling.

The councils put together local transport plans and are about to create plans to cover 2011-2016. The Government gives the councils guidance – I’ve just responded to that draft guidance.

Our work will continue, of course. We’ve arranged meetings with the Department for Transport and local government about how to help local councils create strong sustainable transport plans -- particularly important because, with an increasing emphasis on localism, local councils will be given much more freedom to set their own priorities and plans for delivery. 

13 March: Today I told Gordon Brown that putting money into local transport projects would help the economy. 

Investing in local projects is a much better idea than his current one of investing in large-scale national projects, not least because local projects would provide green jobs quickly.

My comments were in a letter jointly written by us, Unison and PTEG. 

2 March: We all know of beauty spots that are blighted by traffic, noise and parked cars. The problem is, it's often very difficult to visit rural attractions without driving. A new network that we helped to initiate is setting out to change that. The Sustainable Leisure Travel Network will help local authorities to make it easier for people to visit special places by public transport, on foot or by bike. The network was born from the Car-Free Leisure Network which we used to run.

10 February: Last week the London Borough of Brent voted unanimously against a huge new commercial and residential development at Brent Cross (actually in Barnet) which we've been opposing.

It's estimated that the development would attract 29,000 cars a day, mostly to roads in Brent. Exactly the sort of scheme, you might think, where new public transport is needed. But the developer is planning only a small bus service. It has been left to the local Campaign for Better Transport group to come up with a detailed proposal for a new light rail project that could serve this and other major developments while mostly using existing, under-used rail lines. The group presented its proposal to Brent council last week. Councillors were impressed and have told us they'll take our idea up with Transport for London.

6 February: New Government statistics show that traffic levels have fallen for the first time in 30 years. I don't think this fall is a blip; around the country, more and more people are finding ways to live and work that don't require long drives in cars. As I said in a recent Times article about the fall, future economic growth is going to be much less dependent on car and air travel.

5 February: Today I went to a meeting of TravelWatch NorthWest in Preston. The meeting was well-attended, showing the strength of feeling about traffic and transport in the area. I briefed delegates from local rail and bus user groups on current Government transport policy and the opportunities for campaigning in the future, especially on fares. There was real interest in the work we've been doing on safeguarding land for rail reopenings, and in getting councils to use the new Local Transport Act powers on buses.