Norman's Notes

Lord Larry Whitty, vice-president of Transport 2000, gave a presentation on the Government’s energy review.

He said the review made little mention of transport but Aviation could be included in the European Union carbon trading scheme. The review assumes emissions from transport will continue to rise until 2020 before levelling off and we are still nowhere near a transport and environment agenda. Reliance on carbon dioxide reduction from production of electricity is the main objective of the review.

He said there was a need to lobby the Department for Transport on carbon dioxide emissions and the recent vehicle excise duty increases for high-emission vehicles (Chelsea tractors) was nowhere near enough.

Road charging should be structured to encourage low-emission vehicles and it was no longer the political hot potato it used to be. Measures to increase use of bio fuels from 5% to 10% could be achieved through fiscal measures.

Lord Whitty said aviation expansion is still on the Government’s agenda and the only measure to control it was the European Union carbon trading scheme which is a long off. There was a need for European governments to contain aviation by putting a brake on airport expansion. Although cheap flights are popular there was a groundswell of public opinion that something had to be done.

High-speed rail could reduce the need for short haul flights and investment in rail should become an objective.

The meeting went on to discuss a review of Core TAR activities in 2005-06. It was suggested that energy policy should be included under climate change in the coming year but that climate change should continue to to be a prime campaign issue.

It was suggested a working group on transport & climate change should be formed. Stephen Joseph has been in discussion with Professor Phil Goodwin on the effect of sustained rising costs of fuel on transport.

Stephen said the Transport Innovations Fund was likely to generate public opposition and Core TAR needed to be ready with counter arguments.

Comprehensive Spending Review: A working party will submit a paper on what needs to be done to address climate change on issues where the Treasury is very week.

An update to the 2004 “Way to Go” campaign was discussed and several new items were suggested for a working group to take forward.

It was agreed to have a session on the benefits of high speed rail and I was asked to do a short paper on this.

The Barker report on Land Use Planning caused concern, particularly on issues surrounding town centre, out-of-town retail “parks” and competition.

A 10-point manifesto update on climate change was suggested and Denise Carlo has written to Colin Challen MP, chair of Parliamentary Climate Group. to seek a Core TAR presentation to the group.

The East of England Regional Panel report on transport and traffic reduction has been welcomed but the Regional Assembly disagree with it and it was suggested we make this a lobbying issue to obtain Government support. Stephen Joseph suggested a joint letter to Ruth Kelly.

Note: Advice about TWA order objections can be obtained from Friends of the Earth head of legal division Phil Michaels. Tel: 020 7490 1555.

The Conservative Party appears to be in favour of light rail schemes and re-designing high streets along the lines of that in Kensington.

However, it is also reported to be in favour of longer, heavier lorries.

It was noted that the Government still view the cost of oil by 2010 will be $35 a barrel and falling in its traffic forecasts for road and air in spite of industry predictions of more than $100 and a current price of $68 per barrel.

A consortium of climate and environmental groups are organising a series of seminars to coincide with the Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem annual party conferences.

It has emerged that the Government has plans to add 900 kilometres of motorway lanes in addition to the 500 kilometres already in the pipeline. TAR is currently engaged on work to establish carbon dioxide emissions from motorways. Government claims that carbon dioxide emissions from motorway widening will not increase above present levels are based on the assumption that vehicle emissions per kilometre will continue to fall but in practice, the rate of fall has slowed and even shown signs of increasing with the growing use of large 4x4 vehicles.

The Eddington report is seriously delayed and is now expected in September.

A TAR working party have had a meeting with the Treasury. Issues discussed included land use, social inclusion, security of energy supplies and its costs. Ninety per cent of UK transport is dependent on oil. It was agreed to hold another meeting in six months.

The Treasury officials expressed the opinion that rural railways should be closed because they do not pay and they responded to the observation that rural roads do not pay either by saying they were looking at roads as well.

Treasury officials were supportive of road user charging and Government work on it is continuing and is now focused on technology.

The rail strategy covering the next 20 to 30 years will focus on three issues: capacity, environment and rising passenger expectations.

Concern was expressed at the exclusion of rail services from the proposals for free concessionary bus travel.

Funding from a variety of Government “pots”, but mainly from money that would have been spent on London Crossrail had construction not been delayed by the Olympics, is to be spent on a number of major rail projects including loading gauge enhancements from ports for 9ft 6in containers.
Norman Bradbury 27 May 2006

The Conservative Party appears to be in favour of light rail schemes and re-designing high streets along the lines of that in Kensington.

However, it is also reported to be in favour of longer, heavier lorries.

It was noted that the Government still view the cost of oil by 2010 will be $35 a barrel and falling in its traffic forecasts for road and air in spite of industry predictions of more than $100 and a current price of $68 per barrel.

A consortium of climate and environmental groups are organising a series of seminars to coincide with the Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem annual party conferences.

It has emerged that the Government has plans to add 900 kilometres of motorway lanes in addition to the 500 kilometres already in the pipeline. TAR is currently engaged on work to establish carbon dioxide emissions from motorways. Government claims that carbon dioxide emissions from motorway widening will not increase above present levels are based on the assumption that vehicle emissions per kilometre will continue to fall but in practice, the rate of fall has slowed and even shown signs of increasing with the growing use of large 4x4 vehicles.

The Eddington report is seriously delayed and is now expected in September.

A TAR working party have had a meeting with the Treasury. Issues discussed included land use, social inclusion, security of energy supplies and its costs. Ninety per cent of UK transport is dependent on oil. It was agreed to hold another meeting in six months.

The Treasury officials expressed the opinion that rural railways should be closed because they do not pay and they responded to the observation that rural roads do not pay either by saying they were looking at roads as well.

Treasury officials were supportive of road user charging and Government work on it is continuing and is now focused on technology.

The rail strategy covering the next 20 to 30 years will focus on three issues: capacity, environment and rising passenger expectations.

Concern was expressed at the exclusion of rail services from the proposals for free concessionary bus travel.

Funding from a variety of Government “pots”, but mainly from money that would have been spent on London Crossrail had construction not been delayed by the Olympics, is to be spent on a number of major rail projects including loading gauge enhancements from ports for 9ft 6in containers.
Norman Bradbury 27 May 2006

Transport Activists Roundtable
19 April 2006

Climate Change: Discussion centred around the publication of the Climate Change Programme. Disappointment was expressed about the Government’s lack of action on transport issues but the Environmental Audit Select Committee is investigating climate change policy including transport.

Friends of the Earth have done some work on how to calculate carbon levels around airports which will help aviation campaigners.

A recent survey shows that the general public does not believe the Government will ever provide more public transport or, although they agree it would be a good idea, that revenue from road charging will ever be used to improve public transport.

The All Party Climate Change Group is consulting on the need for all-party consensus on climate change. Norman Bradbury has sent in a submission.

Stephen Joseph suggested we write to David Cameron regarding climate change related to transport issues which he has not yet attempted to address.

Comprehensive Spending Review: Friends of the Earth are putting in a submission on transport and climate change and social inclusion issues and is hosting a Core transport activists roundtable working group meeting on Wednesday 3 May at the Environment Agency, Millbank.

Road User Charging: There are few signs of developing a national scheme but the Department for Transport indicates it would like to see more local schemes in town centres like Kingston and Greenwich. Transport Secretary Alistair Darling seems more keen on area wide schemes and there is now a DfT department working on RUC.

However, the DfT has still not accepted that RUC should address climate and other environmental issues but see it only as a congestion relief measure.

Barker Land Use Planning Review: A TAR group will attend a presentation on 26 April 2006. Friends of the Earth have sent in a submission.

Alan Wenban Smith has written a paper on transport and land use planning issues for T2000.

Energy Costs: The DfT has revised its oil cost estimates upwards from $22 per barrel to $35 even though it has now actually exceeded $70 per barrel.
Its road and aviation traffic predictions are therefore based on $35 per barrel.

Airport Watch is intensifying a campaign to get political acceptance of the need to address aviation and climate issues. The Environment Agency has prepared a response to the Aviation White Paper.
Norman Bradbury 24/4/06

Whitehall update by Stephen Joseph, Transport 2000 31 March 2006

Rail
The big news here is that the Government has announced that it will produce a long term rail strategy, looking at its aims for the railways up to 2035. The strategy is likely to be a White Paper and will be published immediately after the Comprehensive Spending Review in July 2007, along with the High Level Output Specification covering the 2009-14 period.

It will plan on the basis of high GDP growth over the period but also high environmental concern, and will have three big themes:

Capacity, coping with growth, which is expected to be significant especially around urban areas

Environment: improving rail’s environmental performance and advantages over other modes, for example by making new trains lighter

Catering for rising passenger expectations, for example in ticketing, information, security etc.

There seems to be some recognition at last of the value of small schemes to allow modest upgrades of the railway; there is a new dedicated Network Rail fund for such schemes. The railway is also likely to be a beneficiary of TIP funding (see below).

One helpful sign of progress is that a review of the Northern Rail franchise, which was rumoured to be an agenda for cuts, has concluded that cuts would save little money and so the status quo is staying.

However, the new Greater Western franchise is starting with consultations on a new timetable which would involve significant cuts in local services. This has resulted in big protests and the proposals are now under review.

Climate change
The Government has published its long awaited review; the transport section includes only the commitments already announced, with a big focus on biofuels and putting aviation into the European emissions trading scheme.

There is at least a recognition that promoting public transport, walking and cycling and also smarter choices would reduce emissions, but there are no new measures announced.

The document also says that the DfT carriageways road programme will result in only a small increase in emissions up to 2010.

Background briefing says that this strategy is not the end of the story — other measures will be announced when agreed. Taking this up, Transport 2000 has written to Mr Darling suggesting a range of new measures, including carbon audits of the next LTPs and of all RTSs, a cross-government initiative to reduce workplace (commuter and business) car travel, road user charging pilots, new speed policy measures such as a 50 mph limit on single carriageway roads, and pressure on the Treasury to double air passenger duty.

Well, we thought we’d try. One genuinely new commitment which may end up meaning something is that there will be a new Planning Policy Statement on tackling climate change, which will be about the “location, siting and design of new development”.

The Budget
This did at least include some environmental measures, and groups concerned with other policy areas seemed genuinely keen on the measures there. The headline measure on transport was of course the new upper band for vehicle duty, and how small it was, plus the freeze in fuel duty (again).

However, buried in the detail were some other measures that may be rather more significant: a review of the “Employee Car Ownership Scheme” which is a tax arrangement enabling those who want to to buy gas guzzlers outside the company car scheme (which was itself tightened up).

There was also a commitment to put low emission incentives into a capital allowance scheme for business cars. Background briefing was that there was nearly an increase in Air Passenger Duty, but the Treasury held off because they want to look at other options. The Budget also included a move to a national free-fares scheme for pensioners and the disabled, following widespread recognition that the local district-based scheme introduced from 1 April this year will be costly and bureaucratic.

Meanwhile, some commuter plan employers have had discussions with the Revenue & Customs about travel plan incentives; these established that the Pfizer-type schemes of crediting people for not driving to work are legal though cannot be tax-free, but that employers can balance the tax they pay on those getting credits by charging those who continue to drive. There was also some discussion of drawing together current benefits and possibly new ones into tax-free travel vouchers, and we plan to pursue this.

Roads, Regional Funding Allocations, LTPs, Transport Innovation Fund etc As most people will know, the regions submitted their advice on these allocations in January, amid lots of backstairs intrigue, and Government decisions are awaited, probably after the local elections.

We and others are concentrating on opposing a few schemes that are damaging and in the RFA priority lists, such as Lancaster-Heysham, and Brownhills in the West Midlands. There is also a lot of lobbying about schemes that were not in the first priorities, such as the Weymouth Relief Road and the Al North of Newcastle.

The final Local Transport Plans have been submitted at the end of March, and vary from being positive documents supporting sustainable transport to long lists of road schemes.

Meanwhile new guidance on the Transport Innovation Fund has developed two categories, “congestion TIF”, funding road pricing pilots, and “productivity TIF”, which funds schemes contributing to national productivity.

The latter category looks to have a large budget, the Regional Development Agencies have been invited to submit schemes that could be funded through this TIF in the short term.

So far, the RDA suggestions are (perhaps surprisingly) rail-based, especially about enhancing railfreight links to ports, upgrading Birmingham New Street etc.

There is some suggestion that in the medium to long term this TIF funding will go on schemes like Crossrail. We have suggested that funding for smarter choices programmes might equally contribute to national productivity, but do not expect to be listened to.

The National Audit Office has announced a study into the cost escalation in road schemes highlighted by Roadblock and opposition parties.

City Regions, road charging, buses etc
These apparently disparate subjects are bound together by a review of local government now taking place, with a White Paper due in July. City Regions are now seen as economic powerhouses and there is support for better governance arrangements.

Transport has been identified as a particular issue; whether the outcome will be to export the London model of a conurbation-wide Mayor and transport authority, or simply to strengthen the existing PTE/PTA structure, is unclear.

The DfT wants reform for two practical reasons — to get a government structure that is more likely to take forward road charging, and to sort out buses. The bus issue comes from wanting to provide an alternative to the car, but also an alternative development to expensive light rail.

The idea seems to be to provide for city-wide bus partnerships which can bring together all operators and local authorities to plan the network. including fares and times. Discussions are taking place with the Office of Fair Trading about this. There is little further news on road charging — options for pilots are still being looked at. There is however renewed interest in building on the pay as you drive insurance scheme run by Norwich Union, to test out the technology, tracking, billing etc.

Dr STEPHEN POTTER’ S PRESENTATION ON "RAILWAYS IN SUSTAINABLE
COMMUNITIES"

There was much useful information in this excellent presentation, a summary of which is attached.

The choice of a Eurostar train as an energy comparative for high-speed rail with other modes was a little unfortunate as these trains embody design features that made them unique to Channel Tunnel operations, much of which has proved unnecessary and would not be included in a high-speed train service from London to Scotland.

As built, it should be noted the Eurostar trains had 780 seats, not 700 as shown in the tables. The refurbished examples have seating reduced to 750, no doubt to accommodate disabled toilets etc, but this capacity would still produce a figure of 0.58 megajoule/seat km, not 0.62 as shown.

In common with most rail services of late, passenger loadings have increased and average occupancy may well now exceed 40%.

The decision to build Eurostar trains with 18 coaches was not a commercial decision but is related to a requirement by the International Safety Commission for the trains to have sufficient capacity for the passengers in one half of the train to be accommodated in the other half in the event of a fire, whereupon, the train could be split at the centre and the undamaged half hauled to safety by the remaining power car. There is a power car at each end.

Furthermore, because the Channel Tunnel contains sustained severe gradients at each end, each power car was required to have sufficient power to haul the entire train out of the tunnel in the event of a failure of the other and these trains therefore have a higher power-to-weight ratio than would otherwise be necessary for operation at 300kph (186mph).

Up to now, the restricted British loading gauge has prevented the use of double-deck trains but a number of routes are likely to be cleared for W10 loading gauge for carriage of 9ft 6in containers on standard flat wagons and this would also provide sufficient clearance for double-deck trains in the future. Any new high-speed rail network would be designed for use by double-deck trains which provide a step change in energy efficiency.

As a matter of interest, an Autocar "Road Test" of one of the original single deck 300kph TGV trains found it could carry 375 seated passengers for 0.75 miles on the oil equivalent of a gallon of fuel, equal to 281 passenger miles per gallon and no less than 94 x 4 seater cars capable of 70 miles per gallon at 186mph! That is close to the maximum speed of a Formula One racing car which typically manages about two miles per gallon with one occupant.

The “Duplex” double-deck TGV carries 570 passengers in the same eight-car train length and, with the latest energy-efficient technology, could be expected to produce 430 or more passenger miles on the equivalent of a gallon of oil based fuel. Regrettably, I do not know how to relate this to Mj per passenger mile but perhaps Dr Potter could help?

Finally, I understand work is now to take place to provide the modifications to use regenerative braking on the ex Southern DC rail network which will improve the suburban electric trains energy efficiency by 10 to 15%.

Norman Bradbury 5 March 2006

RAIL’S ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE COMPARED:

MJ per seat kilometre MJ per passenger kilometre Occupancy

Eurostar 0.62 (0.58 with 750 seats) 1.6 40

Electric Inter City 0.5 1.2 40

Electric suburban 0.39 1.0 40

Light Rail 0.18 0.7 25

Double Deck Bus 0.22 1.1 20

Average Car 0.91 2.1 42

Air, Domestic 1.5 2.1 70

Notes: It should be noted that carbon emissions at high altitude from aircraft are twice as damaging than the same emissions at ground level and therefore the figures above for air should be multiplied by a factor of two.

In practice, the average car occupancy is only about 35% and rail average occupancy has increased in all cases.

Commuting by suburban train now uses O.65 MJ per passenger kilometre compared to 3.04 for a medium size car (in congested conditions).

Commuting is only 20% of total travel (but is higher for rail travel). Moving to small towns will increase car use for 80% of trips and commuting trips have become longer.

Ideally, rail commuting should be promoted with measures to minimise distances and promote walking and cycling to stations.

Chiltern's "taxi bus” at Bicester has reduced car commuting to the station at peak times and freed up parking spaces for off-peak leisure travel.

Given current trends, by 2050 air travel will be responsible for 33% of carbon emissions while, technically, air will continue to be reliant on high carbon fuels (oil) while rail can switch to low-carbon fuels.

Building a high speed north-south raIl line would not only reduce damaging air travel but would also provide increased capacity on the existing network for more local, regional and freight trains which could generate further modal switch from road traffic and yield additional environmental benefits. Care would need to be taken, however, to limit longer distance commuting.

Hypothecation of motor and local taxes could be used to support local rail and light rail services. Road charging in Norwegian cities has been used to help fund light rail systems and a 25pence surcharge on parking at Heathrow airport was used to help fund Heathrow Express. Benefits to road users include reduced road congestion and accidents.

Developers, as has happened at Milton Keynes, could be required to pay a “roof tax” to fund local transport infrastructure.

Rail investment also stimulates regeneration while noise is an issue that mitigates against air rather than rail travel.

Stephen Joseph made the point that on the London-Paris run, a Eurostar is reckoned to produce 1/14th of the carbon dioxide per passenger/kilometre of air travel but this is partly due to French nuclear-generated electricity.


Norman Bradbury
5 March 2006

SUMMARY OF POINTS TO NOTE

Discussion about issues to be discussed at the Core TAR meeting on 1 March 2006 with Dr Stephen Potter included the Department for Transport consultation on closures and minor modifications and the Growing the Railways campaign.

It was also agreed that we should support road charging but press for revenue to be used for public transport. The view was also expressed that if we pushed for road charging to be revenue raising rather than revenue neutral initially, it could be difficult to sell road charging to motorists and politicians.

TransPennine Express and Virgin have been responsive to calls from Windermere Rail Users for service improvements in Cumbria. The Community Rail Partnership has built a relationship with local businesses and secured £18,000 of sponsorship to promote local services.

BMW has been trying with little success to get help to extend the rail link into their Cowley factory so that Mini car bodies could be transported from Swindon to Cowley by rail which would eliminate about 120 lorry movements per day from the A420 road.

Birmingham New Street station is to have a £500million upgrade which would improve passenger circulation, increase retail activity and put natural light into the station but there are no plans to increase rail capacity. Suggestions have been made that would see New Street station replaced by a larger station near the old Curzon St station.

Other plans have emerged to put in a chord at Bordesley to link the Camp Hill line to Moor Street so that some services could make use of the disused platforms there and relieve congestion at New Street.

There is to be a Road Block conference at Carrs Lane Church Centre in Birmingham on 10 June.

Whitehall Update: Jason Torrence and Stephen Joseph have met Chris Grayling. He is supportive of the environment movement and the Growing the Railways Campaign. The Tory party is conducting a transport and roads review. However, he is sceptical about the deliverability of road charging.

It is thought that the next Budget will see a wider range of Vehicle Excise Duty tariffs introduced to combat growth of 4x4 "Gas Guzzlers" - probably in response to the efforts of campaign groups.

A Stop Climate Chaos lobby campaign will take place on 1 March 2006.

Regional launches of the Growing the Railways campaign will take place in the North West on 28 April 2006 at Warrington Town Hall and in the North East on 6 May 2006 in Newcastle Town Hall. Others have yet to be agreed.

TAR input to the Eddington review has been well received and Stephen Joseph has been asked to attend another meeting.

DEFRA is due to release its Climate Programme Review this spring.

Norman Bradbury 25 February 2006

This campaign, organised by Transport 2000, is growing in momentum and support.

A number of regional launches are being organised in the North East, North West, Yorks & Humber, West Midlands and the South East.

Most importantly, an Early Day Motion, EDM1214 “Growing the Railways Campaign” has been placed by Alan Whitehead MP and is co—sponsored by Tom Brake and John Horam.

The Motion reads: That this House welcomes the increasing demand for rail travel but is concerned that no plans currently exist to increase capacity on the railways, and alleviate parts of the rail network which are already congested; and, therefore, supports Transport 2000’s Growing the Railways campaign, as endorsed by 21 organisations, which calls on the Government to draw up a clear investment planning framework for rail, through the High Level Output Statement, which ensures that money spent is used more mett efficiently, promotes partnership working, appraises rail projects fairly, and, above all, plans for an expanding railway for passengers and freight.

In early January, 39 MPs had signed this EDM.

Since 1995/6, passenger demand for rail travel has grown by more than 40% and stood at 1.07billion passenger journeys last year, the highest level since 1959 and on a network that is now 40% smaller. Rail freight has grown by more than 50%.

With further growth of 28% predicted, the need for more capacity on the network is now urgent.

Railfuture members are therefore urged to write their MPs to ask them to sign EDM1214 at their earliest opportunity.

Norman Bradbury 27/1/06

ROD EDDINGTON STUDY FOR NO 10: It was noted this study has not been briefed to address environmental issues but Eddington recognises their importance.

Eddington supports demand management through road charging but does not advocate road building. He is concerned about planning barriers to getting projects off the ground.

He is concerned about railway infrastructure but does not seem to appreciate that transport can underpin unsustainability as well as sustainability.

The above were opinions expressed by those TAR members who had attended the meeting with Eddington.

It was suggested that Tory leader David Cameron has raised the Government's environmental agenda.

The Climate Change Review Programme is now due to be published around March or April.

It was suggested the Way to Go campaign should be revised and this should be done with two or three short papers, the first would outline the issues and the others would outline solutions as we see them. Tony Bosworth undertook to lead on this.

The National Ten Point Plan has been released and work on local/regional plans will be next.

Keith Buchan and T2000 are doing a study on transport-related carbon dioxide.

A TAR road charging position statement was circulated for discussion. Once finalised, it is proposed to circulate it as widely as possible and targeted at MPs and local government.

SUSTRANS provided a briefing on new housing provision as set out in the draft Planning and Policy Guidance 3 published by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. This fails to mention serious issues of climate change, peak oil/energy security and there is almost no mention of transport and none about the need to promote health through active travel. There is little, if anything, on lower speeds, safe routes, links to the National Cycle Network, community severance or sustainable travel.

The consultation period ends on 27 February and all are urged to write to ODPM. Free literature is available from ODPM on 0870 1226 236 or www.odpm.gov.uk

ENERGY REVIEW: Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks has been asked to lead a review of UK energy policy and to bring forward policy proposals next year.

Next meeting will be on 1 March 2006 and guest speaker Stephen Potter will give a presentation on rail priorities.

Norman Bradbury 20 January 2006

Regional Transport Activists Roundtable 6 December 2005

Network Rail is to take over regional rail studies from the Strategic Rail Authority and will appoint officers to handle them. They will collate lists of local rail projects for development in much the same way as the Highways Agency does for road projects. It should mean that rail projects are ready to be implemented as funds permit.

It should be noted that the Department for Transport has excluded rail projects from the regional funding allocations scheme.

Karen Buck, Minister for Regional Affairs, has made a speech strongly in favour of developing regional airports and says regional air services are a “good thing".

TAR meeting with Rod Eddington

Those who attended were encouraged by the thoroughness of the Eddington review. For example, Eddington’s team wanted to know if there was any evidence that walking and cycling improved productivity. They are also looking again at the multi-modal studies' recommendations as well as road charging.

Reliability of journey times was considered most important and the lack of rail investment was discussed. North-South high-speed rail is being looked at as are multi-modal freight hubs around conurbations which would be rail served. Coastal shipping and inland waterways are also under consideration for development.

Evidence for the Eddington review should be submitted by 6 January 2006.

The campaign group Road Block has produced a questionnaire – to be sent to local authorities by individual campaigners – which eliminates the need for letter writing and is designed to ensure any new road schemes comply with DfT guidance. Currently they frequently fail to do so.

Of 5,600 responses to the consultation on the new M6 Expressway toll road, only 2% were in favour of it.

Local authorities are likely to get more bus powers if they introduce demand management (road pricing) measures.

Growing the Railways campaign

Following the national launch by Transport 2000 of the Growing the Railways manifesto at the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, a series of regional presentations is being planned by Transport 2000 to involve MPs and the regional assemblies.

Meera Rambissoon suggests that a regional launch could happen at rail stations, if practicable.

They should aim to include: parliamentary Labour parties, as many MPs as possible, Rail Industry Association, Regional Assembly, passenger transport executive, social inclusion groups, trade unions (rail and otherwise), passenger transport user forums, chambers of commerce, rail user groups and of course the media

The aim is not to have just the usual bodies (rail operators and rail groups), but to reflect the more broad-brush support that Growing the Railways has from business, planners and other groups.

Norman Bradbury 9 December 2005

CORE Transport Activists Rountable 16 November 2005

Rod Eddington was due to appear at this meeting but was unable to attend. Instead, a delegation of CORE TAR members will meet him at the Department for Transport on 23 November 2005 but because the numbers were limited, Norman Bradbury had given Stephen Joseph suggestions in writing on rail issues for discussion.

Whitehall Update and discussion papers were circulated for comment.

David Davis and David Cameron are both in favour of road user charging but both think revenues should be used for more road building.

T2000 have commissioned Jim Steer to report on “What would be the effect of High Speed Rail on the proposed Third Runway at Heathrow”.

The Rail Passengers Council is still expressing interest in attending CORE TAR meetings as is the Alliance Against 4x4s but the latter is reluctant to pay anything for membership. WWF have also shown interest in CORE TAR meetings.

The Road Safety Bill has passed its Lords Committee stage and should be at its final stage by new year. On a point of interest, it was noted that the rule that a victim of a road accident who dies from their injuries after 30 days from the date of the accident, will still not be considered as a road accident fatality.

It is clear that Local Transport Plans still lack many issues due to lack of competence and knowledge of Councillors and many Council Officers.

It now seems unlikely that many current road schemes will go ahead due to rising costs. This news was welcomed by those present.


All Party Parliamentary Climate Change meeting 15 November 2005

The members present were shocked into the future by BBC Weather Forecaster Alex Deakin reading a forecast for a day in May 2080.

The experts present were agreed that climate change up to 2040 is now inevitable but what we do now could influence changes after that.

In brief, we will have warmer, drier summers with acute water shortages, higher winds in autumn and wetter winters. Average rainfall would be 20% higher than now with more frequent extreme conditions leading to infrastructure damage and disruption to utilities and all forms of transport.

This would entail variable insurance rates but mostly upwards and building designs would have to change and low energy cooling and heating will be essential. It is likely that parts of Europe could become drought ridden and up to 50 million people displaced.

Norman Bradbury 20 November 2005

Core Transport Activists Roundtable 17 May 2005

General Election debriefing: Details of new transport ministers are shown on the enclosed Whitehall update. However, it was noted the Conservative and Lib Dem transport spokesmen are now Alan Duncan and Tom Brake respectively.

Alastair Darling has indicated he is looking for assistance from campaign groups to help promote acceptance of Road User Charging.

Social Exclusion: David Lilybrand is Secretary of State for Communities and
Social Inclusion. It was suggested CORE TAR should seek an interview with
Mr Lilybrand and with Simon Hughes (Lib Dem).

It was noted the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister currently does not work with DEFRA on social exclusion issues and the relationship between Sustainable Communities and social inclusion needs to be emphasised.

Spending Review: We need to focus on transport issues and the poor value for money and environmental issues of road spending and the benefits of other alternatives. There was much discussion on how best to do this and it was suggested another look at the SACTRA reports would help highlight the futility of road building. It was noted the CPRE publication “Roads to Regeneration?” examines these issues.

The CORE TAR meeting on 12 July will discuss ways to take this campaign forward — ideas to be sent to Denise Carlo , deadline to be advised.

Denise also mentioned the need to highlight transport related climate change issues in the spending review. Demand management would be a more cost effective way to relieve congestion than road building while providing significant environmental benefits.

CfIT: In the absence of Ross Scot, Stephen Joseph reported CfIT has been doing work on the benefits of bus lanes, including local economic benefits.

They have also been looking at parking and retail related C02 emissions and integrated transport. Stephen mentioned that he will cease to be involved with CfIT this year.

Climate Change & Green Peace: Mark Strutt And Jason Torrance gave a short presentation on their work on transport and transport in the Hydrogen economy. Mark Strutt is working on international transport issues, particularly roads, aviation and fuel efficiency. Their recent demonstration at Land Rover was intended to highlight the energy problems related to large 4x4 vehicles.

George Bush sees 90Z of hydrogen for fuel being generated from fossil fuels with 1OZ from renewables. The point was made that since it takes 8kw of energy to procure 1kw worth of hydrogen from water, this would cause even more damage to the environment than burning fossil fuels directly.

Greenpeace will campaign for more efficient vehicles and the need to reduce the need to travel and will attend future TAR meetings.

Finally, it was suggested they might like to consider how to deal with the likely fuel duty protests in September following the scheduled increase due that month.

Norman Bradbury

Transport Activists Roundtable meeting 15 March 2005

Chair: Roger Geffen (CTC):

SOCIAL INCLUSION: The meeting began with lengthy discussion on a social exclusion paper by Sarah Williams of the Ramblers Association. The Government sees the bus as the solution to social exclusion problems and largely ignores the potential for walking, cycling and other soft measures. However, the National Audit Office is conducting a study on quality of life issues including social exclusion.

The Government’s social inclusion unit also regards the bus as the solution to accessibility problems created by development of out of town retail and health services, ignoring the fact that the consequential loss of local shops and services causes inconvenience and an add-on cost that would not be necessary if these facilities had remained within walking distance.

There is a need to get wider media awareness of these issues but at least the office of the deputy prime minister seems to have acknowledged these problems in the latest Planning Policy Statement entitled Delivering Sustainable Development. See Sustrans Briefing note on PPS later.

We need more information and to seek examples of locations where exclusion has occurred and to make contact with organisations like Age Concern and the Womens Institute.

Railfuture could help this campaign by publicising the health benefits of rail travel as it involves a certain amount of walking and cycling to and from stations and by pressing for more cycle carriage on trains. Planning issues and the need to locate new developments around railway stations could also be highlighted.

CLIMATE CHANGE UPDATE: There is growing acknowledgement that technology has a more limited potential for improvements than previously thought and it has been suggested the “hydrogen economy” is up to 50 years away.


Whitehall update I

Most policy-making is now on hold pending election. The Department for Transport is “incredibly short of money” and claims that the railways are taking it all. The cycling initiative however seems to have been torpedoed by Secretary of State Alistair Darling rather than by money problems. It is affecting Local Transport Plan spending and there is also a shortage of funding for the sustainable travel fund.

The election will not feature transport if the two main parties can help it.

There is also a lot of work going on in the Strategy Unit and at No 10 about local/regional government. More joint authorities, more joint working between authorities and options such as mayors for the conurbations are all up for discussion.

Climate change

The Department for Transport is still reportedly difficult in cross-departmental meetings.

Railways

Lib Dems, with support from Tories and some Labour dissidents, are holding out for some concessions in the Railways Bill around closures, strategies/duties and passenger transport executive powers. The Government is desperate to get the bill through. In the Government’s haste to get the Railways Bill through before the next election, a number of amendments tabled by Bill Bradshaw and others may be approved.

Roads

We may hear about the M6 Expressway consultation results before the election. There is also a rumour that the A47 Acle decision may be announced before the election, which is probably bad news. The roads transport activists roundtable heard an interesting presentation from the Department for Transport’s roads strategy director Steve Gooding on road charging. It also agreed to pursue with him the roads that have disappeared from recent announcements, like the A419 in the Cotswolds, the A303 dualling, the A27 and others.



Planning Policy Statement 1
Delivering Sustainable Development
Sustrans briefing

1) What is it?
Pubflshed in February 2005, this is a new Planning Policy Statement from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

2) Why is it Important?
This is the bedrock of English land-use planning, and also sets out the Government’s view on sustainable development.

3) Any particular quotes?
‘16. Development plan policies should address accessibility (both in terms of location and physical access) for all members of the community to jobs, health, housing, education, shops, leisure and community facilities.’

‘27 (v). Planning authorities should ensure new development Is located where evewone can access services or facilities on foot, bicycle or public transport rather than having to rely on access by car. While recognising that this may be more difficult In rural areas.’

4) Any other issues arising?
Yes. There are strong statements on social inclusion, good design, community involvement, spatial planning, and the need to integrate sustainable development plans with other key policies.

6) What Is the context of all this?
The Government has four aims for sustainable development. These are:
Social progress which recognises the needs of everyone
Effective protection of the environment
Prudent use of natural resources
Maintenance of high and stable levels of economic growth and employment.

The first draft of PPS1 was very much a ‘developers charter’, so the criticisms we and others made have to some extent been accepted. There is much more about sustainability and much less about the gains development brings.

6) What are the implications for Sustrans?
This document gives backing to the policy and practice of much of our work and references from it will be useful. Here are three more key quotes.

Pars 16 ‘Plan policies should:
Take into account the needs of all the community, Including particular requirements relating to age, sex, ethnic background, religion, disability or income
Deliver safe, healthy and attractive places to live
Support the provision of health and well-being by making provision for healthy activity.’

Lastly, PPSI supercedes Circular 5/94 on ‘Planning Out Crime’, which caused us many problems with its needless emphasis about closing cycle and pedestrian paths to stop them allegedly being used by criminals.

7) Read on
PPS1 can be read on www.odpm.gov.uk. Follow ‘Planning’ and ‘Planning Policy’.

February 2005