THE GUARDIAN

Plan to reduce car use is being 'blown off course'

Andrew Clark, transport correspondent
Monday July 7, 2003
The Guardian

Ministers have been "blown off course" on transport and are failing on six of the 17 targets set in John Prescott's 10-year plan - including central pledges to raise rail use, cut traffic jams and encourage cycling.

A score card published today by the government's own independent thinktank, the commission for integrated transport, suggests Labour made "heroic assumptions" about its ability to change Britain's travel patterns.

In a critique which is likely to dismay the transport secretary, Alistair Darling, the commission, which is funded by the government to provide independent advice and scrutiny on its progress, attacks the failure to tackle Britain's dependence on cars.

Its findings come just days before Mr Darling announces the biggest road building plan for decades, including an extra lane each way on the M25 to create an eight-lane highway circling London.

The programme is likely to include new roads through the proposed South Downs national park, to the dismay of environmentalists who have begun building protest camps to block bulldozers.

David Begg, the commission's chairman, whose position is under threat for being too critical of ministers, said government policy was making it harder, rather than easier, to lure people onto public transport. He predicted that following a relaxation of controls on train tickets, fares on public transport will rise by more than a fifth by 2010. But the cost of motoring will fall by a fifth, as cars get cheaper and more fuel-efficient and petrol tax falls behind inflation.

"We will not be able to achieve change in the way we travel in Britain against those price trends," said Professor Begg. "There were some heroic assumptions in the 10-year plan. It was certainly ambitious but it erred on the side of over-promising."

Successes for Mr Darling include rapid headway in improving road safety, with deaths and serious injuries down by 17% last year compared with the mid-1990s. The government is meeting its targets on improving air quality and making buses more accessible, while bus use is rising - largely due to a sharp increase in London funded through the mayor, Ken Livingstone.

However, road congestion and train reliability are both deteriorating. In the most spectacular failure, the number of cycling trips fell by 17% in 2001, despite a target of tripling them by 2010.

A Department for Transport spokesman said it was too soon to draw any conclusions. "The nature of transport is that it takes a long time for investment to go in and make an impact. There will be dips and troughs on the way to meeting targets. We never said it would be straight-line progress."

Mr Darling will delight the motoring lobby on Wednesday by announcing Labour's biggest roadbuilding project yet. He will revive many of the projects developed under the Conservatives, which were put on ice by Mr Prescott in 1997.

However, in a quid pro quo for green campaigners, he will promise a feasibility study on nationwide road pricing. He is considering introducing "spy in the car" satellite technology to track each vehicle and bill drivers for every journey.

Mr Darling is due to rule on proposals to widen sections of the M1 south of Milton Keynes, the A1 and M11 in Cambridgeshire, the M42 in the West Midlands, and the M62 in Yorkshire. He will also announce decisions on controversial new roads in the Sussex Downs. The most contentious plan will be to widen the entire M25 to eight lanes, with the exception of a handful of bridges and tunnels.

Tony Bosworth, transport campaigner for Friends of the Earth, condemned the plan. "It is a triumph of hope over experience. They have tried widening the M25 and all you get is a few years' grace before it becomes congested again."

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