PRESS RELEASE

Transport Action Network (TAN)¹ has welcomed today’s publication of the government’s strategy for integrated transport². It includes some welcome measures, such as:

• Revising codes of practice to ensure better maintained pavements³
• Updating Manual for Streets for better designed streets for all⁴
• Enabling simpler Zebra crossings to be installed⁵
• Creating a mass transit taskforce⁶
• Committing £6 million for the Hope Valley ‘mini-Switzerland’ trial⁷

However, too many issues are not really addressed, such as:

• Tackling affordability – no solutions for buses to bypass congestion (reduce costs) and no acknowledgement that the £3 bus fare cap is still unaffordable for many. No prioritisation of walking, wheeling and cycling as the cheapest forms of transport.
• Transport Related Social Exclusion is only mentioned once in the report and then only for rural areas⁸. The government’s only solution is to develop a new transport poverty measure⁹. 
• Integrating transport and planning, when the latest draft of the National Planning Policy Framework still makes it too easy to ignore integrated transport within new developments¹⁰.
• Car-based development – acknowledges if you base development on roads, you get congestion and poor health outcomes¹¹, but then welcomes a bigger road enabling new homes to be built¹².

Reacting to the new strategy, Chris Todd, TAN’s Director, said:

“While Better Connected contains welcome measures, it is looking at too many issues through rose-tinted glasses. It claims the government is prioritising maintenance, but the £25bn backlog in local roads and bridge maintenance¹³, which has worsened under Labour, suggests otherwise. 

“Similarly, 11 million people are at high risk of Transport Related Social Exclusion¹⁴, largely as a result of unsafe streets to walk and cycle, and non-existent or expensive public transport. The solutions are clear, yet remain largely unaddressed, making it seem like the government is fiddling while Rome burns.

“If the government is serious about integrating planning and transport, then it needs to stop approving large road schemes such as the A38 Derby Junctions. To enable new housing it would be far more effective to put the £650 million this road will cost into better public transport and active travel provision. This could be transformational and is the only way the government will deliver real change.”

– ENDS –

Notes to editors:

1. TAN was set up in 2019 by director, Chris Todd, to help communities press for better (more sustainable) transport. It supports more investment in bus and rail services and active travel. To enable this and better road maintenance (fewer potholes) it opposes damaging road building. It also supports better integration between transport and planning. ↩︎
2. Better Connected: A Strategy for Integrated Transport, was published today (2 April) by the Department for Transport. It was originally called the Integrated National Transport Strategy. ↩︎
3. “…we are revising the Well-Managed Highways Infrastructure Code of Practice to ensure pavements are inclusive, fit-for-purpose, safe and well-maintained”, Page 41  ↩︎
4. “To guide best practice in delivering safer and more inclusive street design, we are publishing an updated Manual for Streets.”, Page 41 ↩︎
5. “We have committed to update the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions, the legislation for traffic signs and road markings, which will include changes such as new, simpler zebra crossings that will make walking and wheeling easier, safer and more accessible. In addition, we will update the Network Management Duty Guidance [HC1] which sets out how local traffic authorities should manage traffic on their network. This means treating all road users fairly by ensuring that footways (including pavements) and cycle paths are treated in the same way as the road infrastructure…”, Page 42 ↩︎
6. “We will also establish a Mass Transit Taskforce [DMA3]. The Taskforce will assess the wider economic, spatial and social benefits of integrated mass transit systems, and examine the funding, governance and delivery barriers that can impede their development…”, Page 70 ↩︎
7. “we will provide £6m funding to support an integrated transport demonstrator programme in the rural region of the Hope Valley [PI5]”, Page 23 ↩︎
8. “Spatial planning should consider how to minimise transport-related social exclusion and ensure that solutions align with local housing, environmental priorities and the Land Use Framework.”, Page 19 ↩︎
9. “Develop and investigate how to embed a new measure of transport poverty”, Pages 39 and 78 ↩︎
10. See TAN’s response to the consultation on the latest draft of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) ↩︎
11. “Roads are essential growth corridors, but when planning transport for new developments, increasing road capacity alone is often the default choice which increases car dependence, leading to congestion and poor health outcomes. Evidence in England shows that car dependency in new developments has risen or stayed the same largely due to homes being built without the provision of sustainable and affordable transport services”, Page 53 ↩︎
12. “3,000 new homes with planning consent reliant on the A47 Thickthorn junction scheme near Norwich”, Page 50, under heading ‘Use transport to unlock new development’ ↩︎
13. Backlog in local roads maintenance up to £18.62bn in March 2026, while backlog in local bridge maintenance was £6.8bn (from 2024), which makes a total of over £25bn ↩︎
14. 11.2 million people are at high risk of TRSE in England, Transport and social exclusion in the North 2024-25, Transport for the North (2025) ↩︎