DEPARTMENT FOR
TRANSPORT News Release (147) issued by The Government News Network
on 30 October 2007
A new framework to
deliver a transport system to support the economy and reduce
carbon emissions was unveiled by Ruth Kelly today.
'Towards a Sustainable Transport System' is the
Department for Transport's response to both the Eddington
Transport Study and the Stern Review of the Economics of Climate Change.
It is the first stage of a consultation process to deliver a
transport system that meets the key objectives of supporting the
country's economic competitiveness and helping address
climate change.
It argues that forcing the pace of technological improvements and
removing the obstacles to behavioural change will be key to
ensuring transport makes a substantial contribution to the goal of
at least a 60% reduction of CO2 by 2050. It will begin the
development of a robust plan for cutting transport's carbon
footprint and will ensure that attention is focused where the most
benefit can be gained.
The document demonstrates how this new approach to planning will
be underpinned by long term funding. The recent Comprehensive
Spending Review means that the Department for Transport now has a
long term funding guideline to 2019 and that spending on transport
will be double what it was twenty years previously.
Given the fact that transport spending takes time, investment
plans up to 2013/14 are largely set and funding over the next six
years will be focused on the most congested routes.
Beyond 2014 the document shows that over £20 billion of
Government funding could still be allocated to specific
improvements up to 2019. This funding, when combined with further
private sector investment, would give the opportunity to make
substantial further improvements to the country's transport network.
'Towards a Sustainable Transport System' sets out a new
strategic approach to ensure this funding is put to best use. It
outlines how the Department will engage with passengers, users,
the transport industry and other stakeholders as it develops and
implements that process. The next stage will be the publication of
a Green Paper and formal consultation in the spring 2008.
Ruth Kelly, Transport Secretary said:
"Our aim is to support people's desire for mobility
whilst ensuring that transport contributes to the overall
reduction in carbon emissions.
"This framework document will help us deliver a transport
system that meets that aim and dispels the myth that as an economy
we face the false choice of being 'poor and green' or
'rich and dirty'.
"It gives us the opportunity to deliver, for the first time,
a 'pro-green/pro-growth' agenda for transport in the
short and medium term.
"It is a process that is backed up by a long term funding
commitment and will include the serious engagement of passengers,
transport users and other key organisations".
Sir Rod Eddington said:
"I welcome the Department's positive response not just
to my report but also to Sir Nick Stern's review. Sir Nick
was my chief academic advisor and he and I were both very aware of
the links between our reports.
"My Study was clear that the performance of the UK's
transport networks will be crucial in sustaining the UK's
competitiveness. The Study was equally clear that, to meet both
its economic and environmental challenges, the transport sector
needs to pay its full costs. I also recommended that, in the long
term, the policy making process needed to adapt to meet those challenges.
"It is right that the Department is setting out ambitious
plans to implement a new process, involving intensive stakeholder
and transport user engagement."
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The full title of the discussion document is 'Towards a
Sustainable Transport System: Supporting economic growth in a low
carbon world'. It is available on the DfT website http://www.dft.gov.uk.
2. The document does three things:
First it describes how the Department is responding to the
recommendations made in the Eddington Transport Study and the
Stern Review of the Economics of Climate Change.
Second, it sets out the Department's policy and spending
plans for the period to 2013/14.
Third, it proposes a new approach to the longer term transport
strategy and explains how the Department will engage with
passengers, users, the transport industry and other stakeholders
as we develop and implement that process.
3. Alongside the discussion document the Department is publishing
a consultation document called 'NATA refresh: Reviewing the
New Approach to Appraisal' This is part of the response to
Sir Rod Eddington's Transport Study and seeks views on how
improvements should be made to the Department's transport
appraisal framework.
4. Professor Sir Nick Stern chaired the group of academic experts
who advised Sir Rod Eddington on his Transport Study published
last winter. This was a position he held before starting his
review of the economics of climate change.
Public Enquiries: 020 7944 8300 Department for Transport Website:
http://www.dft.gov.uk