Memorandum by The Landscape Institute
and Mouchel Consulting Limited (TYP 12)
1. INTRODUCTION
The 10 Year Plan represents a recognition of
the problems associated with transport in the UK, as illustrated
clearly within the recent CfIT report, and involves an ambitious
programme to alleviate those problems.
Many of the most serious problems, and particularly
those on the strategic road network, are being investigated within
the current programme of Multi-Modal Studies. The interim nature
of the 10 Year Plan in relation to that programme is explained
in para 5.10 "If the studies recommend a pattern of spending
that is different from our assumptions, we will shift resources
accordingly".
We would therefore suggest that the Committee
take account of the implied evolution of the details of the Plan
during their deliberations, and that the Committee might consider,
in particular, the way in which this evolution should be managed,
as an integral part of the delivery process.
Mouchel's perspective, from involvement in a
number of Multi-Modal Studies, is that the options being considered,
if summed across all studies, could lead to expenditure on the
strategic road network considerably in excess of the £21
billion identified in the Plan, with potentially damaging implications
for the landscape and the environment. As an extension of this
point, we are concerned that the studies appear to be being undertaken
relatively independently, and we would argue that there is a need
for the outputs from all the studies to be integrated at regional
and national levels. We suggest a way in which this might be done
in 2. below.
In particular, it is extremely difficult for
individual studies to take into account the effects of demand
management and other intervention strategies in other areas. As
an example, if the ORBIT study were to conclude that a substantial
increase in the capacity of the M25 and associated roads could
not be justified in relation to the five Key DTLR objectives identified
in the Transport White Paper and NATA, then this could have implications
for traffic demand over a significant proportion of the total
English transport network. This could equally well apply if the
ORBIT study, and/or other major studies, were to conclude that
major road-widening programmes should be taken forward.
2. ASSUMPTIONS
So far as assumptions are concerned, it is now
recognised that travel demand is significantly influenced by the
level of supply, as well as fiscal measures such as congestion
charging. The Multi-Modal Study programme has involved a considerable
investment in the development of mathematical models to assess
these effects, albeit at a local level. These models, and associated
appraisals, will constitute a unique national database which could
be used, in our view, both to review the relationships on which
the 10 Year Plan forecasts were based, and to assess the overall
implications of alternative programmes of measures, as we suggested
in 1. above.
3. IMPLEMENTATION
Implementation of the 10 Year Plan clearly represents
a real challenge, both for individual agencies and organisations
and for UK as a whole. Possibly the most important step forward
initiated by the Transport White Paper was recognition of the
importance of integration, both between transport modes and between
transport, land-use, economic and environmental planning. It is
clear that the Multi-Modal Studies are coming forward with integrated
packages of measures which, in combination, will have considerably
greater value than the simple sum of their component parts. It
is also clear that the timing of their implementation will often
be critical for their public acceptability. This raises very real
difficulties because, although integrated planning is now accepted
as standard practice, institutional arrangements do not exist
to ensure integrated delivery of the individual implementation
programmes for which the Highways Agency, local authorities, the
rail industry, etc are responsible. In our view, this might be
an appropriate role for emerging regional institutions, and would
be a logical extension of the current RPG process.
The recently published Planning White Paper
should assist in ensuring that key individual elements of Regional
Transport Strategies do not become seriously delayed following
enactment of the appropriate legislation. However, attention will
need to be given to programme integration in the intervening period.
4. TARGETS
So far as targets are concerned, their use can
lead to serious distortions, as has been shown to be the case
in relation to the NHS. In our view, the setting of targets can
be a valuable input to the planning process, through quantification
of otherwise more generalised objectives. The problem comes when
they then become operational targets, against which day-to-day
performance is measured. We do understand, however, that this
distinction is not simple and tends in the opposite direction
to current emphasis on outcomes, rather than on outputs and processes.
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