SPONSORED BY
cally linked: if you train someone to be fuel in the UK if there was a decent infrastructure Tom Idle: This comes back to cross-depart-
efficient, you train them to be safer. for it. That is the biggest problem. mental working to make things really happen.
Let’s move on. We were talking about incen-
Paul Clark: And that dovetails with the road Rowland Hill: We have trialled two types of tives earlier and our last Round Table Debate
safety strategy that we will soon be launching electric vehicle – a very low-weight one, and a focused on the Carbon reduction Commitment
for the ten years from 2011 onwards. medium-weight one. But there is a need for (CRC) and energy managers love that mecha-
that higher level of certainty as to what the nism, because it puts energy on the desk of the
Colin Marriott: How many new drivers are fuels of the future are. chief executive and finance director. Are there
trained each year, in terms of passing their any incentives that you guys might like to see
test? And then how much emphasis, as part of Stephen Steele: TfL’s operator recognition implemented by government, which would
the driving test, is put on safe and fuel-effi- scheme aims to promote the uptake of best incentivise cutting emissions in transport?
cient driver driving? practice through a range of means. We have
this idea of tackling not just fuel consumption Nick Coad: One of my worries about all this
Paul Clark: These are matters which clearly and CO
2
, but also collisions and the amount best practice, and trying to send adverts out, is
need to be taken on board and looked at. In of fines operators are getting. It is about wrap- that it is great – but does anyone pay any
terms of having safer drivers and better driv- ping it all up together. Someone who stops attention? Just make it commercial, and let
ers, you could also end up with greater fuel and picks up a penalty charge notice for ille- those who take a lead in this area succeed. The
efficiency than you would otherwise have. gally stopping in the wrong place causes con- CRC seems to be a mechanism that you could
You are right to say that this does not just gestion which adds to the CO
2
globally. very easily apply to transport.
apply to HGVs and that is why the Van Best
Practice programme has been rolled out. Rob Stubbs: Incentive is a good word. I
always use the analogy of when we got rid of
Tom Idle: Being a safer driver is one thing, but
THERE NEEDS TO BE
four-star petrol and went to unleaded. It was
we are talking about incentives. Are there any
A BETTER CONNECTION
discounted for a while but we all knew that it
plans to implement mechanisms that will real- would come back and smack us on the nose.
ly have a big impact on cutting emissions? BETWEEN URBAN But it incentivised us, the world changed, and
PLANNING AND
that was a classic example of how it can work.
Paul Clark: If we can crack the issue to do
with electric and hybrid vehicles, then we TRANSPORT PLANNING David Bellamy: Historically, in the food
could have that now.
ACROSS LOCAL
manufacturing area, transport costs have been
We are investing some £400M into research, relatively small, and transport has always fall-
development and delivery. There is about AUTHORITIES en in the rump end of the business. The car-
£30M now going into the infrastructure that
MARK BROWNING
bon debate is hiding the debate about trans-
will be required for electric vehicles, and a fur- port costs but that is beginning to change.
ther £230M that will be available from 2011,
HALCROW
directed at the consumer. That also includes Dean Kerwick-Chrisp: I have heard much
the fleet market, so we are probably looking at about the fears and uncertainty of investing in
support in terms of £2,000 to £5,000 for each Colin Marriott: We are trying to service the emerging technologies. But I am curious as to
vehicle. That will make a difference and I do homes of residents within London, to make just how much more efficient we could be
not need to tell you and your businesses that sure that they are safe, trying to insulate hous- with what we have.
this will clearly make a difference if you start es in London, to reduce carbon emissions –
to get those sorts of numbers rolling. and yet we spend half an hour trying to find a Nick Coad: When we look at our public
parking space. We are spending £1.3M to transport business, the greatest impact for us
Rob Stubbs: The infrastructure is key from a £1.4M a year on parking fines. It’s a farce. on our fuel efficiency is getting efficient run-
fuel perspective. As a business, we have had ning on the roads. I am not trying to create a
CNG [compress natural gas] vehicles around Mark Browning: There needs to be a better mandate for road extensions here, but that is a
London for the last eight years, and we got connection between urban planning and very important issue.
our first hybrid on the road last week. But transport planning across local authorities. It
there isn’t just one solution going forward, is inconsistent at the moment and I am sur- Ian Berrill: I agree. Electric vehicles do not
but a series of them. It is time we had some prised that, given the focus of carbon, it does work for us – we have cranes in the back of
commitment from government because we not really have that much focus in transport our vehicles and it is not an option for us. We
would have taken up CNG across most cities planning in terms of policy analysis. are looking at reducing the amount of miles
Sustainable Business 19❘ February 2010
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