Sustainable transport policy set out

Summary

This White Paper, ‘Towards a Sustainable Transport System: Supporting Economic Growth in a Low Carbon World’ (Cm. 7226), examines sustainable transport policy in the light of the Eddington Study and the Stern Report.

This discussion paper describes the Government's transport policy objectives, in light of the recommendations of 'The Eddington Transport Study' and the 'Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change', both of which are available below. It sets out the Department for Transport's policy and investment plans for the period to 2013-14. It goes on to propose a new approach to longer-term strategic transport planning and development, building on the Eddington model, and explains how it will engage with key stakeholders during its implementation.

Four key steps are identified in this approach:

Clarity about policy goals Identifying transport challenges
Generating options to address them
Selecting options that deliver the best value for money in the context of sustainable development.

The document highlights five broad goals within the Government's transport agenda:

Maximizing the competitiveness and productivity of the economy
Addressing climate change
Protecting people's safety, security and health
Improving quality of life through a healthy natural environment
Promoting greater equality of opportunity.

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Law-Making Explained

This is a Command Paper (Cm. 7226 2006-07): it is a White Paper from the Department for Transport.

Find out more about White Papers.

How does it affect me?

If you work in the transport sector or are interested in the UK transport system and it effect on the environment, this affects you.

Ruth Kelly, Transport Secretary said:
"Our aim is to support people's desire for mobility whilst ensuring that transport contributes to the overall reduction in carbon emissions.
"This framework document will help us deliver a transport system that meets that aim and dispels the myth that as an economy we face the false choice of being 'poor and green' or 'rich and dirty'.
"It gives us the opportunity to deliver, for the first time, a 'pro-green/pro-growth' agenda for transport in the short and medium term.
"It is a process that is backed up by a long term funding commitment and will include the serious engagement of passengers, transport users and other key organisations".

Sir Rod Eddington said:
"I welcome the Department's positive response not just to my report but also to Sir Nick Stern's review. Sir Nick was my chief academic advisor and he and I were both very aware of the links between our reports.
"My study was clear that the performance of the UK's transport networks will be crucial in sustaining the UK's competitiveness. The Study was equally clear that, to meet both its economic and environmental challenges, the transport sector needs to pay its full costs. I also recommended that, in the long term, the policy making process needed to adapt to meet those challenges.
"It is right that the Department is setting out ambitious plans to implement a new process, involving intensive stakeholder and transport user engagement."