Better Transport

Find out if a business case is being written

News reports about proposed roads don’t usually make clear what stage the road it at. So, first check that the road hasn't yet been approved into the Government’s local roads programme.

If your scheme is not in the Government’s programme this means it is just an aspiration of your local council and you’ve a good chance of stopping it. If it’s not in the programme, the council is probably preparing the business case to submit to the Department for Transport in order to get funding for the road.

More about the process

If it is in the programme, the business case has already been submitted to the DfT. Your work now must focus on influencing the planning process.

Don’t let the road get into the RFA

Many schemes are submitted for funding even before a business plan has been produced.

Since 2005 the Government has asked the eight English regions outside London to give advice on their transport priorities for the next 10 years. This advice helps the Department for Transport decide how to allocate funding between regions. After receiving its regional funding allocation (RFA) form the Government, each region goes back to its list of priorities and decides which schemes will actually get funded. It is a competition for funds between public transport schemes and road schemes.

New regional transport priority lists will be drawn up by regions in 2008-9. This time round the regional development agencies will be leading the process, instead of the regional assemblies. The list will include rail schemes as well as Highways Agency regional schemes and local authority ‘major schemes’ - public transport and road scheme over £5 million.

You should try hard to make sure your scheme never gets on your region’s list. How?

1. Find out the process and timings for your area. The Treasury will publish guidance in 2008 on the process for the next round of regional funding allocations. By early 2009 each region will submit its transport priority lists to the Department for Transport.
2. Find out how RFA spending priorities are decided in your region because each region does it differently. Who makes the decisions? Is there a regional transport board? Does it publish minutes? Can you attend meetings? You could either find out via your regional TAR (transport activist roundtable) or your regional assembly
3. Find out what schemes are under consideration. Are there any great public transport schemes that need more support? Would funding for these schemes be jeopardised if the funding went to road schemes instead?
4. Get busy. Contact local public transport groups and other groups who rely on public transport. Work together to lobby for RFA funding to go to public transport scheme, not roads. Circulate a briefing about your road scheme to key decision-makers. Organise publicity stunts at key meetings to get across the messages that transport funding should go towards improving public transport, not more roadbuilding.

Influencing the business case

Find out the council's timetable
See if you can find out the timetable for completing the business case.

Swot up
Read the Government guidance to see what the DfT requires of the local authority in order to give it funding. This guidance is the DfT's 'rule book' for local authorities. That way, you know where the local authority is coming from, what its focus is.

Help us comment on the appraisal summary table
Since 2000, environmental groups such as Campaign for Better Transport have been invited to comment on the appraisal summary table of local road schemes. We consult with local activists and our comments are considered by the DfT and the Minister before they make their decisions. Do get in touch if you wish to be consulted.

Contact Rebecca Lush Blum, our roads and climate campaigner

Get an expert to comment on the business case
The business case will be enormous and complex and many groups have fundraised to pay a transport or economics expert to examine the business case and report to the minister. Although hiring an expert can be expensive (minimum £2,000) it is well worth doing to ensure the arguments are as convincing as possible.

Inform the Department for Transport that you plan to review the business case and expect the minister to await your expert’s report before making a decision on the road. You will need to organise a realistic but tight time table to ensure that your expert’s report gets to the minister in time. We can help you with this stage and give you advice and contacts (simply contact us).

Review the appraisal summary table
If you don't have the time or moeny to hire an expert to analysise the full business case you could simply comment on the appraisal summary table and use the content of the summary table in your media and publicity.

For example, the appraisal summary table for the project to widen junctions 16 to 223 or the M25 shows that the project will add 18,576 tonnes of carbon in the first year alone.

Work with the statutory bodies
The statutory environmental bodies - the Government agencies charged with looking after the environment - also review the appraisal summary table. They are very important and the DfT will take a lot of notice of what they say about the scheme. However, they are seriously under-resourced and only object to a limited number of schemes.

Contact the regional offices of the statutory environmental bodies s early on to ensure they are aware of your scheme and its environmental impacts.

Get friendly with the regional offices
Find out who is in the transport department of your regional Government Office. Introduce yourself and the campaign to them. Usually if you write to a minister about a road scheme, the response will certainly come back from the regional office.

Make a noise
Once the business case has been submitted, you should focus your efforts on trying to influence the Department of Transport and the Minister, because they will take public acceptability into account when making decisions.

Let the DfT know that the scheme is very controversial and that the opposition is large and diverse. How?

• Some local groups have sent in copies of all the local press coverage they have received
• Some have got their MP on their side and got them to make frequent representations to ministers