Written evidence from North West Transport
Roundtable
SUMMARY AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
The dissolution of Leaders Forums has meant
that the North West Transport Roundtable and many other wider
stakeholders have lost a voice at the strategic level. Policy
making will be the poorer for it. The "buy-in" of these
bodies will be essential to the success of the LEPs. The danger
that social and environmental issues will not be given equal weighting
alongside economic matters must be averted.
We recommend that:
— Specific provision needs to be made for
an adequate presence at the decision-making level of the LEPs
for SEEPs—social and environmental as well as economic partners.
— Specific requirements need to be made
of the LEPs to adopt balanced policies which give equal weighting
to social, environmental and economic issues. Monitoring will
be needed.
— Important lessons learnt must not be
forgotten, notably (1) there is no automatic connection between
the provision of transport infrastructure and economic benefit
and (2) investments in active travel and smart choices produce
good value for money.
EVIDENCE
Who we are
The North West Transport Roundtable (NW TAR)
operates under the auspices of the Campaign for Better Transport
(CfBT). We are an umbrella body which promotes sustainable transport,
healthier lives and low carbon lifestyles.
The representation we have been afforded under
regional working
The NW TAR is a member of North West Environment
Link (NWEL) and Voluntary Sector North West (VSNW) and, through
both channels, we have had a voice via the Social, Environmental
and Economic Partners (SEEPs), under the regional working arrangements
that have just been disassembled. This has been much valued, not
only by us but by elected members and officers of regional agencies
and local authorities alike.
The author of this submission originally represented
North West Environment Link on the Planning, Environment and Transport
Key Priority Group of the North West Regional Assembly and—since
it became 4NW, the Leaders Forum—she has served on the Regional
Transport Group on behalf of Voluntary Sector North West. For
neither post was she self-appointed. For the first, she was appointed
by her peers on NWEL and for the latter she was approached by
the chief executive of VSNW who put her name forward for the seat.
This representation has ensured that NW TAR has had an appropriate
fora to put its sustainability messages directly to decision makers
and also it has allowed the NW TAR to be a party to briefings,
studies and reports—all of which have enabled it to do its
job better.
The NW TAR have also had seats on the Highways
Agency's Northern Environmental Committee and its Road Users Committee
and on other regional groupings. We have built up substantial
expertise through our intense involvement in the strategic planning
and transport policy processes. The quality of our input is discernable
from our many thoughtful submissions which are displayed on the
"documents" and "consultations" pages of our
website (www.nwtar.org.uk). The same has applied with other regional
transport roundtables around the country and also to other SEEP
members who have each been able to present their many and varied
points of view, ensuring better balanced decision-making. The
fact of the matter is that everyone has benefitted from wider
stakeholder engagement at a key policy-making level.
Potential pitfalls of disassembling strategic
working
There is now a real fear amongst the voluntary
and environmental sectors in particular that the moves to localism
and the dissolution of a quasi-governmental tier of working between
the local and the national levels, along with lost opportunities
for high level engagement, will lead to a weakened knowledge-base,
less "voice" for the sectors and poorer decision-making
due to informed specialised viewpoints not being heard at the
strategic level. Input purely at the local level would be problematic
and patchy due to lack of capacity. And if the former "SEEP"
partners are no longer in receipt of relevant papers, it is going
to be hard for them to follow the wider agenda and for them to
add value to it.
Specific provision needs to be made for the
inclusion of SEEPs in the decision-making processes of the new
sub-regional Local Enterprise Partnerships that are about to be
established and in the drawing up of multi area agreements. The
views of these wider stakeholders is invaluable and their `buy-in'
is critical.
Need for LEP criteria to incorporate environmental
& social considerations into their working
Topics which the Business, Innovation &
Skills Committee will be considering, amongst other things, are:
"Arrangements for co-ordinating the regional economic
strategy. Structure and accountability of LEPs".
Although it is understood LEPs are likely to
have some responsibilities for issues such as transport, it is
a source of concern that the focus to date appears to be entirely
economic. Transport provision is also a social issue and there
are environmental impacts from transport infrastructure and the
use of transport.
Regional Spatial Strategies, (which incorporated
Regional Transport Strategies), have been scrapped. However, their
remit to maintain a balance between economic, social and environmental
issues must not be lost under the new regime. It is crucial that
issues such as greenhouse gas emissions, landscapes, light and
noise pollution and community severance are weighted fairly alongside
value for money and perceived economic benefits. The findings
of SACTRA—the Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Road
Assessment—should not be forgotten. They showed in their
report "Transport and the Economy", which was
researched during the mid 1990s, that there is no automatic connection—in
a mature economy such as that which exists in the UK—between
new transport infrastructure and economic benefit. On the other
hand, more recent research has revealed that modest investments
in cycling, walking and smart choices can often provide very good
value for money. In addition, there is a health bonus in promoting
active travel. It is to be hoped that these recent lessons learnt
will not be forgotten under the new regime and strict guidelines
will be drawn up for the LEPs to ensure their focus as far as
transport is concerned is sustainable transport and reducing greenhouse
gas emissions.
We trust that these few comments are of some
value.
16 August 2010
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