NEWS RELEASE - Wednesday 11th February 2004

Green Transport Bill "will move Scottish transport policy in a more civilised direction"

TRANSform Scotland today welcomed the launch of the 'Green Transport Bill.' The Bill, introduced to the Parliament by Scottish Green Party MSP Chris Ballance, will oblige Scottish Ministers to deliver policies that will ensure that the Scottish Executive meets its target to stabilise road traffic levels.

Speaking at the launch of the Bill, TRANSform Scotland Chair David Spaven said:

"TRANSform Scotland is backing the Green Transport Bill being introduced to the Scottish Parliament by the Scottish Green Party. We are not a party political organisation but our 2003 pre-election assessment of the various party manifestos against key sustainable transport criteria concluded that the Greens had the best range of policies to reduce Scotland's over-dependence on the car, the lorry and the plane, and to shift the emphasis towards public transport, cycling, walking, and more freight by train and ship.

"This Bill is important for everyone in Scotland. It will seek to reverse the backward drift of Government transport policies since the the 1997 UK General Election and the 1999 Scottish Parliament Election. The Government in London and the Scottish Executive have made u-turn after u-turn over that short period of time - the Government ditching the Fuel Duty Escalator, freezing lorry taxation, and giving the go-ahead to 44 tonne lorries, while the Executive has dropped proposals for trunk road user charging and a workplace parking levy. Worst of all, in Scotland we now have a £1.5 billion road-building programme, which will only make matters worse in terms of local environmental impact, social justice and climate change.

"First Minister Jack McConnell evidently has genuine concerns about environmental justice, but he has a blind spot when it comes to transport and the environment. The Executive does have a policy to stabilise road traffic at 2001 levels by 2021, but it has no strategy or interim targets in place to ensure that this is delivered. The Green Transport Bill will establish interim targets, will hold Ministers to account on their delivery and will help to move Scottish transport policy in a more civilised direction."