Better Transport

• Lillian Burns send them a message
• Tel: 01625 829492
• NW TAR website

Many important transport decisions are made on a regional level. To effect these decisions, lots of different groups concerned with sustainable transport work together through Regional Transport Activists' Roundtables (TARs). There are eight Regional TARs across England.

The North West Transport Activists Roundtable (NW TAR) focuses much of its efforts on trying to get sustainable transport and land use policies adopted at the regional and sub-regional level. Acting as an umbrella body on behalf of many organisations and individuals, we endeavour to influence emerging transport and planning strategies and decisions by taking part in a variety of fora, seminars and conferences, responding to strategic consultations, lobbying elected representatives, officers and board members of public and non-governmental bodies, appearing at public inquiries and examinations in public and serving on a number of regional bodies.  From time to time we make submissions directly – or indirectly via national environmental and sustainable transport bodies – in response to national government invitations for comments on emerging transport policies and to inquiries being run by the House of Commons Transport Committee and we produce occasional reports aimed at influencing decision-makers on a wide range of transport-related issues.

Latest News :

As opponents of the Mottram-Tintwistle Bypass and Glossop Spur roads that would have impinged on the Peak District National Park and the Greater Manchester Green Belt, NW TAR were key members of the A57-A628 Alliance which took part in the public inquiry into the schemes. We were therefore delighted by the Highways Agency’s withdrawal from the inquiry in March 2009, whilst it was in recess, following the Regional Funding Advice (RFA) to delay the scheme until after 2019. Wider stakeholders such as ourselves were not permitted to take any direct role in formulating the RFA advice to government but we did take part in the consultation on it. We also produced a lobbying paper aimed at the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) in an attempt to influence their thinking on Supplementary RFA Advice (see our website: www.nwtar.org.uk).

Following our successes in obtaining more sustainable policies in the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) which was adopted in Autumn 2008, we are now engaged with the new single integrated ‘Regional Strategy’ process which is bringing together the RSS and the Regional Economic Strategy (RES). In addition, we have seats on the steering groups responsible for drawing up Route Management Guidance for the North West and for conducting an audit of Travel Plans and Smarter Choices Implementation.
Also, along with Friends of the Earth, we have formed ‘The Alliance’ to appear as joint objectors at the ‘Mersey Gateway’ public Inquiry. We believe that economic aspirations for this proposed toll road bridge across the Mersey between Runcorn and Widnes are unrealistic and that it would cause untold environmental damage. The arguments we have mounted in relation to this case are viewable and downloadable from the ‘documents’ page of the NW TAR website.