£4 billion for local transport improvements – a good start

The Freight Transport Association has welcomed the Government’s announcement of a package of funding of more than £4 billion to improve local transport up to 2011. This builds upon the £8.5 billion provided to local authorities over the last seven years. However, FTA believes that whilst this additional funding is essential, there are still areas where further funds are necessary to reduce congestion, improve air quality and improve road safety.

FTA’s Head of Urban Access Policy, Stephen Kelly says, ‘The key objective for local authorities is to stimulate further economic growth by cutting congestion on their roads. Roads congestion is one of the biggest issues facing local authorities today. This announcement provides a platform for local authorities to take forward integrated transport improvements such as the provision of essential user lanes – buses and lorries sharing the same road space. Industry itself is taking significant strides in trying to reduce its impact on daytime congestion.

‘We have seen the introduction of consolidation centres which reduce the number of separate deliveries to one destination by providing facilities where deliveries can be collected together and transferred onto a single vehicle for onward delivery to the end destination. Furthermore, industry is keen to work in partnership with local authorities to undertake night-time deliveries as this seems to be the simplest and most cost effective method of cutting emissions and congestion. This would alleviate many of the problems faced by transport operators as well as helping to tackle congestion overall by removing HGVs from peak hour traffic.’

The £4 billion package includes over £2 billion for highways capital maintenance. Kelly says, ‘Recent reports suggest that there is increasing concern for road user safety as local authority highways departments strive to stretch insufficient maintenance budgets. Across the country, local authorities report a shortfall of maintenance funds while they continue to struggle with a backlog of work, currently estimated at over 11 years. This obviously poses a serious threat to road safety. Local authorities control 95 per cent of the UK road network and therefore the emphasis should be on preventative maintenance rather than reactive work. This extra funding should assist local authorities to reduce the backlog and to give the travelling public the network it deserves.’