issued jointly by:
Friends of the Earth Scotland & TRANSform Scotland

NEWS RELEASE

Tuesday 19th April 2005

Transport Bill:
Call for traffic targets and for business sector to be removed from transport decision-making

TRANSform Scotland and Friends of the Earth Scotland today outlined their support for two amendments introduced to the Parliament by Green MSP, Chris Ballance MSP. The amendments, due to be discussed at Tuesday's transport committee consideration of the Scottish Executive's transport bill, call on the Executive to set traffic targets, [1] and to remove private sector appointees from transport decision-making. [2]

Friends of the Earth Scotland's Head of Research, Dr Dan Barlow, said:

"Halting, then reversing Scotland's road traffic levels will be critical if Scotland is to reduce air pollution and tackle climate change. Any traffic stabilisation strategies adopted by the Executive must include interim targets. Doing so would make it much easier for the Executive to monitor progress and for politicians and the public to hold the Executive to account."

Colin Howden of TRANSform Scotland said:

"We strongly object to the proposal that there should be external representation on the proposed statutory Regional Transport Partnerships. Transport decision-making should remain in the hands of elected representatives not political appointees.

"The Executive's proposals could allow up to a third of the membership of the Regional Transport Partnerships to be made up of business sector appointees. This would inevitably lead to transport policy being distorted to favour the private interests of companies rather than the public interest. [3]

"If this provision remains in the Bill, then the Executive will be open to the charge that it is privatising transport decision-making. Creating undemocratic and unaccountable Regional Transport Partnerships is completely unsatisafactory, and should not be allowed to remain in the Executive's transport bill."

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

[1] The first amendment calls upon the Executive to set interim targets for road traffic stabilisation. The Executive has set itself the target year of 2021 to return traffic levels to that seen in 2001. This target date is too far off into the future to suggest that any politicians is likely to do anything to achieve this target. The amendment proposed calls upon the Executive to set interim targets. We have suggested interim target years of 2009, 2013 and 2017. Interim targets are required if the Scottish transport sector is to play its part in delivering year-on-year emissions in climate pollution.

[2] The second amendment calls on the proposals for Regional Transport Partnerships to remove the sections of the Bill that call for external membership.

[3] The experience of private sector representation on the existing voluntary Regional Transport Partnerships has been disastrous for the environment. The creation of the North East Scotland Transport Partnership (NESTRANS), which includes only business sector representation, has seen the adoption of a transport policy which is grotesquely skewed towards road-building at the expense of progress on sustainable transport.

[4] TRANSform Scotland and Friends of the Earth Scotland are both supporting organisations of the everyone campaign - an initiative from Scottish Environment LINK. Some 26 organisations with nearly half a million supporters are combining forces to push the environment, and specifically climate change, up the political agenda in the run up to the General
Election and the G8 Summit. Find out more at: http://www.everyonecan.org

END OF NEWS RELEASE