Remit of this group
An efficient, sustainable transport system is essential to achieving important Liberal Democrat objectives of tackling climate change, promoting economic prosperity and building vibrant local communities.
Decades of under-investment in public transport, followed by the badly managed rail privatisation of the 1990s, have seen an increasingly car-and lorry-based economy develop in Britain in a largely unplanned manner. This has lead to an increase in pollution and congestion, with accompanying health, economic and social impacts. The less well off who depend on public transport have lost out. From 1997 to 2005, the real cost of motoring fell by 9%, while the cost of bus and coach travel, relied on by the poorest, rose by 15%. The cost of rail travel rose by 5% and is now the highest in Europe. The dominance of the car has contributed to out-of-town shopping replacing local facilities, undermining local communities and economies.
The last comprehensive policy paper on transport was policy paper 46 Transport for People (2001). The FPC is commissioning a new working group to fully update policies on transport, setting out an integrated, sustainable vision for transport in Britain up to 2050. The working group will take account of the principles and direction laid out in Trust in People: Make Britain Free, Fair and Green. The main priorities will be to reduce the adverse environmental impacts of transport while meeting people’s transport needs in the most cost-effective and accessible way, including the needs socially excluded groups such as older people, the poor and those living in rural areas who are not well served by the existing transport system.
In particular, the group will develop proposals to:
- Reduce the pollution emissions of vehicles by developing a planning framework which incorporates targets for carbon reduction, and minimises the need to travel.
- Make it easier for people to travel by cycling and walking.
- Investigate the use of road pricing to promote sustainable road use and manage congestion.
- Improve bus services, including possible stronger powers for local authorities.
- Expand and improve rail services within and between cities, including tram and urban light rail systems. This will require substantial investment, including using innovative forms of financing such as issuing bonds or applying the principle that those who benefit from development, through increased land values, should support the cost.
- Maintain and promote best use of suitable inland waterways.
- Tackle problems associated with freight transport including emissions and social impacts.
- As far as possible replace the need for short-distance flights by more environmentally sustainable methods of transport.
- Improve transport safety.
The group are also invited to develop policy proposals in relation to aspects of international transport as it affects the UK, including road haulage, rail freight, shipping and high-speed rail.
The Party has recently published a policy paper on aviation (March 2006) and this topic is also covered in Fairer, Simpler, Greener (2006) and the forthcoming climate change paper (going to autumn conference 2007). The group are invited, however, to cross refer to these papers and, where necessary, update policy relating to domestic and international aviation.
The working group is required to produce a consultation paper for the Spring 2008 Party conference, and a policy paper for the Autumn 2008 Party conference of no more than 8,000 words.
