Drive Time

Turbulent times as the Conservative party desperately looks to position itself for the next general election, still mindful, it seems, of its narrow, anti-ULEZ fuelled, win in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election in July 2023.

I wonder if the prime minister has recently read chapter 9 of the NPPF (“Promoting Sustainable Transport”)?

 I wonder if the prime minister recalls that since 1 June 2023 a new Government quango, Active Travel England is a statutory consultee on all large planning applications to “to help planning authorities in their work to implement good active travel design – for example, by ensuring developments include walking, wheeling and cycling connectivity to schools and local amenities. This will help improve public health, save people money and reduce harmful emissions.” ATE’s framework document may be seen as dangerously woke in this new political climate, aiming to deliver increases in active travel to 50% of all journeys in urban areas.

I wonder if the prime minister recalls his Government’s Net Zero Strategy: Build Back Greener with commitments such as:

• “End the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2030; from 2035, all new cars and vans must be zero emission at the tailpipe.” (long gone)

• “Increase the share of journeys taken by public transport, cycling and walking.”

• “Invest £2 billion in cycling and walking, building first hundreds, then thousands of miles of segregated cycle lane and more low-traffic neighbourhoods with the aim that half of all journeys in towns and cities will be cycled or walked by 2030. As announced in the Transport Decarbonisation Plan, we will create at least one zero emission transport city.”

The party’s Manchester conference saw two major policy announcements by the Government on transport (neither made first to Parliament as convention requires):

The Plan for Drivers  (2 October 2023)

Network North: Transforming British Transport (4 October 2023)

From the foreword to the Plan for Drivers, the car is king again:

“There’s nothing wrong with driving. Most of us use a car and, for many, life would not be liveable without their car. For those in rural areas, it is a lifeline. A car can hugely expand the independence of a younger person, as well as keep older people connected to key services and their families.”

There is the rather grudging nod to other modes of transport, but whatever you do, don’t vilify the private car:

“Walking, cycling and public transport are necessary in a multi-modal transport system and we support their continued growth, but they are not the right choice for everyone’s journey. Being pro-public transport does not mean being anti-car. The easy political choice is to vilify the private car even when it’s been one of the most powerful forces for personal freedom and economic growth in the last century. Used appropriately and considerately, the car was, is, and will remain a force for good.”

That first sentence is somewhat mealy mouthed in the face of what follows. The Government apparently intends to:

• “update guidance (in England) on 20mph speed limits. While 20mph zones are an important tool in improving road safety in residential areas, over-use risks undermining public acceptance, so we are clear that 20mph zones should be considered on a road-by-road basis to ensure local consent, not as blanket measures
• stop local authorities using so-called “15-minute cities” to police people’s lives. We will consult on measures including the removal of local authorities’ access to DVLA data to enforce such schemes by camera
• following the LTN review, consider new guidance on LTNs with a focus on the importance of local support, and consider as part of the LTN review how to address existing LTNs that have not secured local consent”

Local authorities policing people’s lives via “15 minute cities” enforced by cameras? Bizarre.

There will be restrictions on the operation of bus lanes, measures to make parking easier, discouragement of penalty charge notices. And so it goes on.

And then today we had, to accompany the prime minister’s party conference speech, Network North – serving as the political cover for today’s decision to scrap HS2 north of Birmingham. Regardless of the noise about monies being diverted to other transport projects (many of which, worryingly for our climate change targets, are of course road projects), the cancellation decision is disturbing – not just for people and businesses who would have benefited from the longer route – but of course hugely upsetting also those whose properties have already been taken, as well of all of us whose money has been spent, irreversibly changing the environment including areas of outstanding natural beauty and ancient woodlands, on the basis of asserted public benefits that will now never be fully realised. In retrospect, today’s decision raises question marks over the initial decision by David Cameron’s government to proceed – as well as subsequent governments’ decisions to continue.

I was at least pleased to see that the Government has at re-committed to the line actually reaching Euston:

“We are going to strip back the project and deliver a station that works, and that can be open and running trains as soon as possible, and which has the leadership in place to deliver maximum value to the taxpayer. We will not provide a tunnel between Euston and Euston Square underground station or design features we do not need. Instead we will deliver a 6-platform station which can accommodate the trains we will run to Birmingham and onwards and which best supports regeneration of the local area. That is how we properly unlock the opportunities the new station offers, while radically reducing its costs.

We will appoint a development company, separate from HS2 Ltd, to manage the delivery of this project. We will also take on the lessons of success stories such as Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms, which secured £9 billion of private sector investment and thousands of homes. So we will harness the future growth that the station will unleash to support its development, to ensure we get the best possible value for the British taxpayer – and ensure that funding is underpinned by contributions from those people and businesses its development supports. At the same time, we are considerably upping the ambition of the Euston redevelopment, where we will be looking to establish a Development Corporation to create a transformed ‘Euston Quarter’ – potentially offering up to 10,000 homes.”

It will be interesting to see what ensues.

Foot to the floor, election ahead….

Simon Ricketts,4 October 2023

Personal views, et cetera

Detail from one of the first records I ever owned…