House of Commons Hansard Debates for 24 Jan 1997 (pt 15)

1.26 pm

Ms Joan Walley (Stoke-on-Trent, North): My speech will be brief because I know that many hon. Members wish to speak on the Bill, and I also do not wish to do anything to delay its passage. I am very proud to be a sponsor of the Bill, and I congratulate the hon. Member for Bath (Mr. Foster) on promoting it through the private Members' lottery.

The Bill is important, and I was amazed to discover so much cross-party support for it. When I was first elected a Member of Parliament 10 years ago, it was unthinkable that we would debate, in such a calm manner, a way in which to put road traffic reduction on the political map. I hope that today's debate will help the Bill to secure a speedy passage through the House.

Friends of the Earth must be congratulated on the work that it has done across the country in campaigning on the issue. I also pay tribute to all hon. Members who have already signed early-day motion 289, and I urge them to ensure that the Bill is passed rapidly.

It is incredible that the House is no longer discussing whether we should support such a Bill, but how we can support it. The time has come to deal with the issue of road traffic reduction. However, we must examine the issue not only from the top down, but from the bottom up. The Bill provides a real opportunity to do so--even with the concessions that will have to be made to speed its passage, which we hope will be completed before the general election.

Why should we support the Bill? The hon. Member for Worcester (Mr. Luff) has just expressed some reservations about the Bill, but I believe that we must support it. The air that we breathe has been polluted; the quiet of the countryside has been affected; and traffic congestion has caused business to lose money, as we have heard, to the tune of £19 billion annually. Excess traffic is also a social problem. Many people, particularly the elderly and those on low incomes, are becoming isolated because they no longer have proper access to public transport.

Road traffic reduction is not only an environmental issue but one of social equity. Figures show that 5 per cent. of people in the top 20 per cent. income bracket do not own cars, whereas 60 per cent. of those in the bottom 20 per cent. income bracket do not own cars. We must deal with social equity and ensure that we do not create even greater divisions in an already divided society.

I am delighted that the Minister is supporting the Bill. However, in the past 10 years, we have suffered from the tunnel vision of the Government's multi-billion pound roads programme. This morning, I was happy to hear him say on Radio 4 that, perhaps in three years' time, we shall not be so committed to the current programme and will move to a more balanced programme. We should have done that and turned the oil tanker around, as it were, long ago.

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The proposals cannot be implemented soon enough. I note that the Government have finally recognised the need to act, and I believe that we are on course to discovering how an integrated transport policy, as set out in the Bill, can take account of what local communities want and reflect that in the national policy laid down by the Department of Transport.

Many organisations have contributed to the preparation of the Bill. I support all that the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has done in identifying the sites of special scientific interest that are under threat from road building, and the species and their habitats that are under threat from acidification. Transport 2000 and SUSTRANS in particular have done a great deal of work to promote not only cycle networks but safer routes to schools across the country, including in my constituency. It gave me great heart to be campaigning alongside an organisation such as the Townswomen's Guilds, which recognises the legitimacy of the issue.

I believe that we face a real challenge, but the Bill is a milestone that will ensure that much can be achieved more quickly. It will enable us to bring local communities and businesses, parish councils and any other groups that have a stake in the community, together in a partnership to plan policy--it is no good having a national transport programme that has no regard for local needs.

Time is limited, but I shall end by reading a letter from a constituent, which has just arrived on my desk by chance. It is from Stacy Stonier, a pupil in class 6O'B at Holden Lane primary school in Sneyd Green, Stoke-on-Trent. She says:

"I am ten years old. I go to Holden Lane Primary School in Staffordshire. We are doing a topic about Environmental change. We are looking at the proposed matter of widening the M6 around Staffordshire.

I feel it will be a deplorable idea to widen parts of the M6 around Staffordshire, because if it is widened more people will go onto the M6 expecting it to be clear, but they will join more people thinking the same thing. Then it will be the same as it is now."

It is not easy to tackle traffic problems, but if the Bill is enacted and if we have a partnership of business, industry, local authorities and local people, we shall find a way to meet the challenges. That gives me great optimism for the future, and I am proud to have had the opportunity to speak, albeit briefly, in support of the Bill.

1.32 pm

Mr. David Chidgey (Eastleigh): I, too, congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Bath (Mr. Foster) on being successful in securing the opportunity to introduce the Bill. Should it become law, it could become one of the most important pieces of traffic legislation for some time. I am pleased that the concepts of the Bill are very much in line with Liberal Democrat transport policy, as set out in our paper entitled "Transporting People, Tackling Pollution".

We all agree that traffic congestion, the pollution and the damage that it causes to our environment, and its effect on the quality of life and health of our citizens, is a serious problem. Much was made earlier of the incidence of respiratory illnesses aggravated by traffic pollution. It is important to note that work carried out at Birmingham university a couple of years ago showed a direct correlation between the closeness of major urban

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roads to centres of population, and the traffic levels on those roads, and the incidence of respiratory illness. It found conclusively that if traffic levels increased, hospital admissions for respiratory illness rose quite significantly a few days later. We have to face that major problem.

As the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Mr. Forman) said, electric cars might be a help, but the generation of electricity also releases pollutants into the atmosphere.

Traffic growth is not a new problem. It is fascinating to reflect that, back in the 1960s, an eminent professor, Mr. Buchanan, produced a famous report entitled "Traffic in Towns". He recognised the problems of traffic growth even then. I recall a study at about the same time, which showed that, if we were to attempt to meet the traffic demand in London--let us remember that this was in the 1960s--we would, in order to build the necessary roads, have ended up covering the whole of London with asphalt. It is not a new problem; we have known about it for many years but have done very little about it. The problem is that politicians--of all parties--like to build things. They like to leave their mark. How many city or town relief roads can hon. Members think of that are named after an eminent local politician? [An hon. Member: "The Rendel bypass."] Not quite.

Although one can name a relief road the Alderman Smith bypass, one cannot put a plaque on a traffic reduction scheme. That is the essence of the problem. We have to recognise that there is a far greater dependence on the car, particularly for short trips. The problem does not relate to car ownership levels, which will continue to increase. We have to govern how people use their cars. We have to recognise that there is a new approach now to managing traffic. It is not just about managing the growth in traffic but about managing to reduce that growth.

I welcome the Bill because it sets out the measures that local authorities can use. I particularly like the example given of introducing cycleways. My constituency of Eastleigh has worked hard to create a network of cycleways throughout the borough, to provide an alternative means of transport around the town.

We have to address the problem of planning guidelines. That is a major point. Too many planning authorities throughout the country are forced into allowing more and more developments on the borders of their area, thereby generating more dependency on the car. We must change planning guidelines so that we can reduce dependency on the car and make it much more viable to walk, cycle or use public transport.

I welcome the Bill. It is indeed a milestone in transport legislation. I welcome the all-party support that it has received, from the Opposition Front Bench and from the Minister, who has been particularly helpful. I can assure the House that the Liberal Democrats will do all we can to ease the Bill's passage through the House. I sincerely hope that it will become law before the end of this Parliament. I shall do all that I can to support it. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Bath once again.

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1.36 pm

Dr. Norman A. Godman (Greenock and Port Glasgow): I offer my compliments to the hon. Member for Bath (Mr. Foster) for his Bill.