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Transport: Journey Time Targets

Lord Davies of Oldham: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Transport (Douglas Alexander) has made the following Ministerial Statement.

The accessibility of our cities is key to their economic growth and success. It is therefore important that local authorities take responsibility for addressing the problem of road congestion and the impact on journey times caused by the increasing numbers of journeys being made.

Each of the 10 largest urban areas in England, therefore, has a target to limit the increase in person journey time per mile, given the expected increase in travel over the next five years. The target relates to the overall average journey time on a representative set of the busiest roads in each of their major urban centres. The 10 are: London, Greater Manchester, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Tyne are Wear, Merseyside, Bristol, Nottingham and Leicester.

While ownership of these local targets, and implementing measures to deliver them, is the responsibility of the local authorities involved, we have weighted (according to traffic volumes) and averaged the journey times across the 10 areas to create a national composite PSA target for the Department for Transport, as we announced on 5 July 2005.

The national PSA target is therefore that:

By 2010-11, the 10 largest urban areas will meet the congestion targets set in their local transport plan relating to movement on main roads into city centres. The target will be deemed to have been met if, on target routes in the 10 largest urban areas in

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England, an average increase in travel of 4.5 per cent is accommodated within an increase of 3.7 per cent in person journey time per mile. The local targets on which this is based include:in London, accommodate an increase in travel of3 per cent within an increase in journey time of no more than 1.5 per cent;in Manchester, accommodate an increase in travel of 1.5 per cent with no increase in journey time; andin the West Midlands, accommodate an increase in travel of 4 per cent within an increase in journey time of no more than 5 per cent (the target is expected to change—possibly to 3 per cent if funding for the West Midland's urban traffic management and control project is fully approved in 2006-07).

Each local authority is responsible for finding a balance between economic development, safety and journey times consistent with local circumstances and needs. The targets for each area are consistent with each authority's local transport plans, which set out their wider transport strategies. The Department for Transport will be working with each authority to encourage and support them in delivery.

London, Manchester and the West Midlands account for about two-thirds of the traffic in the10 urban areas. Major scheme bids, including for the West Midland's urban traffic management and control project, are currently being considered.

We have today published a PSA technical note, with full methodological details, on the Department for Transport website. Copies have been placed in Library of the House.

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