The Scottish and UK Transport White Papers are now out, and do represent a huge shift in attitudes and policies. There are also disappointments, especially in the Scottish one. Links to both are given below, or you can buy paper copies from the Stationery Office in Lothian Road. The Scottish one costs approx £10, and the UK one approx £16 [sorry exact prices not to hand just now]. Please note that the thoughts below are based on an early reading of the document.

Good points:

• Positively, the government has agreed that money raised from motorists in charges will be spent directly on transport, and will not go into general Treasury funds. This apparently is something the Treasury would normally be totally opposed to, and is a remarkable achievement by Transport Minister John Prescott. Charges - road tolls and/or taxation of workplace car parking - first need legislation, so it is important to press for this legislation as soon as possible. The charges will bring huge new sums for public transport, cycling and walking.
• In the Scottish Paper, a very positive aspect is that all councils are now advised to draw up an integrated sustainable Local Transport Strategy - including their responsibilities [PTO] under the Traffic Reduction Act. If they do not draw up such a plan they will not be eligible for money from a new £90million Public Transport Fund for council initiatives. We believe this fund will cover cycling/walking projects too, despite its name, but have still to confirm this.

• The Scottish paper says cycling is "a vital mode in reducing car use", and has many other very positive words. However, the main cycling section has not a single new initiative, and no new funds allocated. Previous talk of a new 'Cycle Challenge' scheme has even been omitted. Admittedly, there are cycle aspects  mentioned elsewhere, and we hope the £90m councils fund above will be applicable for cycle projects, but the main cycling section is a big disappointment.
• The Scottish paper gives mixed messages about new trunk-road building, and depending on how you interpret it, there is scope for big spending to start again. Separately issued figures show the trunk road budget as 1997:£170m, 1998:155m 1999:162m, 2000:175m, 2001:186m. The 97-98 decline is the road building moratorium when Labour was elected, but there is then a nearly £60m total increase over the next 3 years. Since £70-£100m p.a. is needed for trunk road operation and maintenance, that could mean perhaps £250-£270m for new trunk roads over 1999-2001; plus any roads built with private money (PFI, shadow tolling, etc - see Spokes 69)!!! That dwarfs the new £90m Public Transport fund above.
• The much-heralded tax on superstores for car-park spaces has not appeared in either White Paper. This is a real disappointment - it could both raise money for sustainable transport, and do much to encourage superstore green shopping plans, home delivery, bike routes, etc, and help reverse the trend to out-of-town shopping. It is very important still to lobby MPs on this, as it could be changed. The new laws required to bring in road tolling and workplace carpark charging could also be made to include this power. Note too that the laws are to allow experiments in tolling/charging, and it would be crazy not also to include powers for experiments in charging for superstore spaces at the same time.
• There are no national targets for traffic reduction in either paper. Indeed both papers talk of reducing the rate of growth of motor traffic - but that means continued actual growth!
• It is planned to allow councils to experiment with motorcycles in bus lanes (not cycle lanes).
• The Scottish Paper keeps trunk road and public transport budgets and operation far more separate than is healthy. There is talk of integrated transport but budgets etc don't seem to reflect this. New trunk roads will not always be assessed on a corridor basis (i.e. in comparison with public transport and planning initiatives), but only where appropriate.

Link to Government's Transport White Paper for Scotland can be found at:
http://www.official-documents.co.uk/document/cm40/4010/tc-hm.htm

Government's Transport White Paper (England & Wales) can be found at: http://www.detr.gov.uk/itwp/paper/index.htm
Press release for issue of White Paper at: http://www.coi.gov.uk/coi/depts/GTE/coi4126e.ok
 

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