Blog ARCHIVE
Radical reform of Welsh bus services
Photo: Shutterstock.com / Ceri Breeze Three quarters of all public transport journeys in Wales are made by bus and approximately 80% of bus users do not have access to a car. This highlights the importance of the bus in providing choice and opportunities for everyone. Yet, bus service availability has...
Speak to your candidates about a better future
The local elections on the 5th May are an excellent opportunity to show candidates how important safer streets, cleaner air and better public transport are to you. They will be keen to hear your views, and if enough people tell them that sustainable transport is a priority, they will be...
Spring Statement: It could have been worse
(but it could have been so much better) The Spring Statement (or mini-budget) announced by Rishi Sunak contained few surprises in the end as he struck a cautious note on Government finances. The predicted 5p cut in fuel duty was announced to great fanfare but in reality will make little...
Rethinking ‘Smart’ Motorways
After years of relentless campaigning by Smart Motorways Kill and bereaved families, the Government has finally postponed the rollout of some new ‘Smart’ Motorways whilst 5-years of safety data is gathered. This pause gives the Government the opportunity to fix failings in the planning process that have allowed Smart Motorways...
Cut fares not services!
Over the last decade, the Government has reduced fuel duty year on year so that motoring costs have fallen in real terms, even with recent fuel price rises. In comparison, it has raised rail fares above inflation for nearly every year since 2010. Meanwhile, the increase in traffic caused by...
The “carbon neutral roads” con
The controversies surrounding carbon-offsetting are likely to be a big feature of the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow. Governments are desperately looking for ways to carry on increasing emissions with a ‘business as usual’ approach, whilst pretending this can be ‘balanced out’ elsewhere with offsetting schemes. The same tricks are...
Tell Rishi Sunak to stop funding RIS2
The £27 billion RIS2 roads programme is under pressure like never before. With your help we can give it a big nudge to push it over the edge. The Treasury is asking for your views on priorities for the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), which will set out Government spending for the...
Who will prioritise climate change?
TAN is shocked the High Court has ruled that it was lawful for the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, not to consider the impacts on climate change when he approved the £27 billion Road Investment Strategy (RIS2) roads programme . When our case was heard at the High Court in June,...
High Court to rule on net zero scrutiny of ministers
High Court to rule on net zero scrutiny of ministers FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Mr Justice Holgate will give judgment at 2pm on Monday 26th July on Transport Action Network’s (TAN) judicial review of the Secretary of State for Transport’s decision to approve the “largest ever” roads programme. Published in March...
Step forward as DfT agrees roads policy review
The Department for Transport has partially backed down in the face of our second legal challenge, agreeing to review its outdated roads policy which dismisses climate change (BUT see UPDATE below). Buried in the DfT’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan was a concession to review the National Policy Statement for National Networks...
Road to climate chaos
Last week the Department for Transport’s (DfT) £27 billion RIS2 roads programme of 50 new road schemes and ‘Smart’ Motorways was in the dock at the High Court as our case against this profligate waste of money and highly damaging proposal was finally heard. Our legal team argued it was...
‘Smart’ Motorways need proper scrutiny
Building roads increases traffic. We’ve known this since 1994 when the Government published the seminal SACTRA report, “Trunk Roads and the Generation of Traffic”, that proved the phenomena of “induced traffic”. Yet despite knowing that we cannot build our way out of congestion, the Government seems intent on attempting to...
Grant Shapps undermines trust in planning
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps repeatedly overruling of independent planning inspectors and advisors is undermining trust in the planning system and democracy. This could have a corrosive effect, deterring people from participating in the planning system, if their opinion and evidence is going to be ignored. In the last year Grant...
Shrewsbury’s North West Road to Ruin
Guest blog by Emma Bullard of Better Shrewsbury Transport (BeST) Compared to bigger schemes – Silvertown Tunnel, the Wensum Link, A303 Stonehenge – the North West "Relief" Road proposed for Shrewsbury might not seem like a big deal. It is budgeted at about £100M, is just under 7 km long,...
Carbon and the strategic roads programme
Guest blog by Phil Goodwin (Emeritus Professor of Transport Policy, UCL and UWE; Senior Fellow, Foundation for Integrated Transport) I have been working for many years on problems in road appraisal, including on traffic forecasts, induced traffic, the treatment of alternatives, the value of time (and comfort and convenience) the...
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