Transport Planning Society Writes to Sunak to Defend LTNs
The Transport Planning Society (TPS) has written to Rishi Sunak to defend and support active travel and mode shift schemes like Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs).
It comes after Sunak used an interview with the Sunday Telegraph to promote rat-running on residential streets. He told the DfT it has to review LTNs. The review applies to England only – Scotland and Wales are allowed to develop sensible policies.
The TPS says that LTNs are not ‘anti-car’ but pro-people.
Cost of Living
LTNs support the government’s wider policy goals, says the TPS, including:
- reducing inflation
- tackling the cost of living
- improving public health and
- cutting NHS waiting lists
The average UK household spends £74.40 a week on transport (2021/22 figures), and rising transport costs are a big part of the wider pressure on household budgets. This pressure will be relieved if we can create environments that enable walking and cycling.
Further, walking and cycling schemes are good value, with a high average rate of return on investment:
- £6.10 for every £1 spent for walking and cycling, compared with
- £2 for every £1 spent on major roads
Decarbonisation
The TPS also asks the government to maintain support and investment for walking and cycling schemes because they will help deliver on the Transport Decarbonisation Plan and Net Zero Strategy.
It says that a reduction in car mileage will be needed to reach Net Zero.
The Letter
The letter from the TPS to Sunak says:
‘Our members strongly support measures to encourage active travel and targeted mode-shift schemes, which we believe are critical in advancing most of the government’s policy objectives. We are therefore concerned about the recent shift in tone from yourself and ministers regarding delivering the local improvements we believe are necessary to improve local air quality, decarbonise our transport network, support economic development and regenerate our towns and cities.’
letter from the transport planning society to sunak
It adds:
‘Remarkable progress can be achieved when national and local government work together, with national government providing policy guidance and funding, and local authorities working with local communities to deliver locally appropriate improvements.
Over the past three years, many local authorities have successfully implemented active travel policies like LTNs under guidance from the government.
It is crucial that the government builds on this success by maintaining a consistent framework of policies, guidance and funding so the sector can move forward constructively.’
letter from the TPS to sunak
Comments by the Chair of the TPS
Chair of the TPS Ben Plowden said:
‘Our view as transport planners is that achieving a sustainable and equitable transport system requires offering people genuine choices in how they travel.
By supporting active modes of transportation, such as walking and cycling, and creating safer, people-friendly spaces, LTNs contribute to cleaner air and foster healthier communities.
These initiatives are essential in delivering several of the government’s strategies, including Gear Change, that sets the target to increase the proportion of trips in towns and cities made by walking and cycling to 50% by 2030. They also align with the broader vision of achieving a decarbonised transport system that supports economic development and improved public health.
We commend the government’s excellent work and clear vision in prioritising affordable and convenient sustainable transport options over the past several years.
This has been supported with significant government funding for active travel that has delivered schemes that, as well as improving the quality of the places in our towns and cities, have also proved to be very popular. For example, a recent Department for Transport survey showed 8 out of 10 people support measures to reduce road traffic , and two thirds support the reallocation of road space.
Re-thinking how we plan our cities, towns and communities is not anti-car, but pro-people.’
ben plowden, chair of the transport planning society
Sunak a Disaster for Active Travel and the Environment
It was obvious from a mile off that Sunak would be a disaster for active travel, and the broader environmental agenda.
Two factors are at play:
- Desperate newspaper headline-chasing populism and
- Lack of understanding of, or interest in, active travel and the environment
1) Desperate Newspaper Headline-Chasing Populism
Transport is the biggest single source of UK greenhouse gas emissions.
Logically, a responsible government interested in evidence-based policy for the public good would do something about it. That includes modal shift to active travel and public transport, and demand reduction. The goal is to reduce vehicle miles travelled to a level consistent with the UK’s binding climate obligations.
One of the government’s goals is for 50% of local trips in towns and cities to be walked or cycled by 2030.
Instead of serious government aimed at legitimate public policy goals, we are getting populist rhetoric from Sunak in the desperate hope of approval from right-wing newspapers like the Telegraph and the Daily Mail.
Rewind to a few years ago when incandescent light bulbs were being phased out and LEDs were on their way in. There is little doubt that Sunak would have been defending the right of the Great British People to waste their money on inefficient lighting.
In 2023, few people are exercised about old-fashioned light bulbs. Nearly everyone is happy to have lower electricity bills, better quality light, and longer-lasting bulbs.
It just needed a government with a bit of vision and backbone to stick to the right policy despite some criticism. If it had been Sunak’s call, we’d still be putting 100W bulbs in our fittings.
2) Lack of Understanding of, or Interest in, Active Travel and the Environment
The other problem we face with Sunak is his total lack of interest in active travel and the environment. He is a bean-counter, albeit arguably not a very good one.
Sunak recently went on a high-carbon trip to Scotland by private jet to announce new oil and gas licences. He told a Scottish radio station that there is no need to stop people flying in order to address global heating.
The truth is that private jets and helicopters are the most carbon-intensive forms of transport that exist. We can’t carry on with business as usual and expect to meet our binding carbon-reduction targets. We do need to reduce the amount we fly, especially by private jet.
Sunak appears to believe that we can:
- keep on flying as much or more than now
- open a new coal mine
- grant more oil and gas licences, despite the IEA saying we can have no new fossil fuel supply projects
- do nothing to reduce vehicle miles travelled
but still somehow magically meet our net zero obligations.
He is divorced from reality.
It’s Brexit-style populism all over again – ignore the facts, and tell people what you think they (or some of them) want to hear.
Brexit hasn’t worked out well, and the lies have been exposed. The same will happen on net zero, and the British people will not thank the politicians who misled them.
Sunak is relying on magical thinking and future techno-fixes to sort out global heating. It won’t work.
The reality is that the UK’s net zero obligations cannot be achieved without behaviour change.
Sunak needs to go. The only question now is how much more damage will he do before he goes?