11 September 2013
Clarity required on Swinney cycle spend statement
Transform Scotland have called for clarity on John Swinney's statement that there will be a £20m increase in investment in active travel over the next two years.
Transform Scotland has called for many years in its Budget submissions for greater clarity on the treatment of active travel in the Scottish Budget & this was also a specific recommendation of the Parliament's transport committee in its scrutiny of the last year's Budget. [1] This year's Budget provides no advance on this situation.
We would expect to see active travel investment appear in one of three locations in the Budget document:
| |
2013-14 |
2014-15 |
2015-16 |
Source |
| Sustainable and Active Travel |
35.0 |
29.0 |
15.0 |
Table 9.07 |
| Future Transport Fund |
7.7 |
18.7 |
20.2 |
Table 9.09 |
| Cycling, Walking and Safer Routes |
5.6 |
8.2 |
8.0 |
Table 9.19 |
| Total |
48.3 |
55.9 |
43.2 |
|
The first two budget lines (Sustainable and Active Travel, Future Transport Fund) certainly contain spending on sustainable transport measures which are not active travel (e.g. car club development, Glasgow Fastlink bus scheme, low carbon vehicle promotion, grants for shifting freight from road to rail). So the question remains as to whether a welcome increase in cycle spend will lead to other parts of sustainable transport investment losing out.
Colin Howden, director of Transform Scotland said:
"The Budget document is well-nigh impenetrable when it comes to active travel investment. Given that there is no increase in the overall spend on the overall sustainable transport budget lines, questions have to be asked to whether a £20m increase in cycle investment will lead to a decrease in spending in other vital areas of sustainable transport. "It is imperative that the Scottish Government come forward with a clear set of figures for investment in cycling. It is equally imperative that the increase in cycle funds doesn't disadvantage the prospects for rail freight investment or for the further enhancement of car sharing schemes.
"John Swinney asks for those critical to his Budgets to tell him where the funds should come from to fund alternative proposals. We're very clear on this: the funds should come from his multi-billion pound road-building budget. This has increased by 40% over the past five years. Given that transport remains the basket case of climate change policy, it's difficult to see how future climate targets will be met when the Government remains hell-bent on promoting car use."
Notes:
[1] See para 140 of <http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/CurrentCommittees/57606.aspx>.