NEWS RELEASE - October 16th 1998

Planners congratulated, Road builders slated: Does the Scottish Office's right hand know what its left is doing?

Colin Howden, Campaign Manager of TRANSform Scotland, commented:
"The Scottish Office has had a number of years in which to develop "corridor appraisal" techniques, where the range of transport infrastructure investment proposals can be considered together. With the publication of the Government's Transport White Papers, and with this review of the Trunk Roads Programme, this is the appropriate time for this appraisal framework to be brought forward. Unfortunately, the Scottish Office has completely failed to do so. Instead, we have the lame excuse that attempts to evaluate investment on an equal footing will be developed "in the longer term." This is wholly inadequate and wholly unacceptable."

Colin Howden continued:
"On the other hand, we think the Draft NPPG is a welcome advance in recognising the link between integrated transport and land use planning, for suggesting policies which can reduce the need to travel, and for encouraging new and existing developments to be accessible by sustainable transport modes. We welcome its promotion of sustainable patterns of development less dependent on access by private car and more accessible by public transport, by cycle and on foot."

ENDS

Notes to Editors:
(1) The Draft National Planning Policy Guidelines (NPPG) on Transport and Planning sets out the framework for land use decisions and their transport effects. It is the equivalent document to the English document PPG13 that, when launched in 1994, was seen to put an end to out-of-town developments.

(2) The roads review paper "Strategic Review of the Trunk Road Programme in Scotland: The Appraisal of Trunk Road Investment" presents criteria on how road proposals will be evaluated. However, it crucially fails to compare road schemes with public transport alternatives within the same framework, acknowledging that the document fails the criteria of integration so central to the Government's new transport policies.

(3) The road review document is dismissive of February 1998 Interim Report of the Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Road Assessment, the Government's special advisors on trunk roads, which clearly stated as one of its main findings that new road links can undermine the strength of the local economy, and therefore "that there is no simple, unambiguous link between transport provision and local regeneration" (SACTRA Interim Report main finding 3).

(4) While the roads review document states (in para 5.38) that "it needs to be demonstrated that developing resources to the transport project would represent a more cost-effective means of developing the local economy than the use of other, existing policy instruments." However, for most road schemes previously in the Scottish roads programme, and as in the case of the proposed M74 Northern Extension, there has been no attempt to demonstrate that it would be a more cost-effective means of developing the local economy than other existing policy instruments, never mind ill-specified attempts.

(5) TRANSform Scotland brings together 52 organisations - including transport operators, local authorities, national environment campaigns & local transport groups - interested in transport, the environment and a sustainable Scotland. We can be contacted at 72 Newhaven Road, Edinburgh, EH6 5QG. Tel.: 0131-467-7714; Fax: 0131-554-8656; E-mail: campaigns@transformscotland.org.uk; web: http://www.transformscotland.org.uk

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