HIGHWAYS


Towards an all-party consensus on a 20 year transport strategy


Four words spring to mind when considering what the coalition government means for transport in the UK: policy, pricing, protection and, finally, politics, says Chris Jackson


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Chris Jackson is president of The Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation


tarting with policy; before the coalition government was forged it was


interesting to consider the degree of shared interest in the transport element of their manifestos.


The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives had a lot of common ground. Both were committed to high speed rail. Both wanted longer rail franchises with less micro- management from government.


Both wanted Network Rail to be made more accountable. Both supported light rail. And both opposed new runways at Heathrow and Stansted.


How did this match up to the Institution’s own manifesto launched in the run up to the election and subsequently well received by all the major parties?


In particular, we supported high speed rail, considering this a viable option that would encourage modal shift to relieve congestion on the motorway network and thereby help deliver more reliable journey times on that network.


Both the Conservatives and LibDems agreed with us on this and we will watch this space on high speed rail.


So where did the two parties views polarize and who will be disappointed now? This leads us to the second issue: pricing. The Liberal Democrats shared the view of the Institution that road pricing stands out as the most


Jul/Aug 10


effective demand management tool to deliver economic (social and environmental) benefits.


In our manifesto we called for a clear link between transport costs and transport funding.


The proposed revenue from any road pricing scheme should be reinvested in the transport network. The Conservatives appear be driving their agenda on this at the moment and road pricing has again been knocked into the long grass.


There are some positives to be taken as tolling will be considered for new roads and a road pricing scheme for lorries has also been mentioned.


Before the coalition government was formed, the Lib Dem transport spokesman Norman Baker suggested a coalition government between the LibDems and Conservatives might have delivered road pricing, this has sadly not come to fruition.


David Cameron has previously flirted with idea of road pricing and perhaps a more considered debate will come at some stage.


In the much heralded austerity times ahead we know there is likely to be limited opportunity for large public spending infrastructure projects and attention will have to shift to consumer charging and private sector investment.


Road pricing offers a solution in this regard. A shift away from


taxation to charges for road consumers and the opportunity to attract private sector


investment from revenue streams from tolling.


CIHT has continued to acknowledge the potential benefits of road pricing in that it provides a means of managing a scarce resource.


Our profession also recognises that it is difficult to achieve public support for road pricing, particularly for a national scheme. However, nearly 9 in 10 motorists would like greater clarity over where motoring taxes are spent.


Measures towards road pricing should emphasise this alongside the argument that road pricing promotes fairness and should be promoted as giving priority to road vehicles based on their value to the economy and society.


Any road pricing scheme must be provided alongside improvements in the capacity and quality of viable alternative travel by public transport.


Studies in the UK suggest that a national road pricing scheme which would charge variable rates as high as 80 pence per- kilometre at peak demand would have the effect of reducing congestion by 50%.


This is significant given that the government predicts that the cost of congestion will rise to £22 billion per annum by 2025.


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