1 July 2010
(Not) Getting There (Yet)
The Sustainable Development Commission’s new report ‘
Getting There’ tells us that Scotland’s transport system is unsustainable, with emissions and traffic levels still on the increase, and that only small incremental improvements since the 2006 National Transport Strategy was published.
It endorses some of the key demands that Transform Scotland have made over the past decade, in particular the need for a renewed focus on demand management measures. It reports that the return on investment for sustainable transport was in the order of £9 for every £1 invested. It criticises the Scottish Government’s road-building programme (specifically the proposed Aberdeen western bypass) and instead calls for investment to be transferred to sustainable transport. It calls for the Scottish Government to include “politically difficult actions” such as road speed reductions and increased parking charges as part of the revised National Transport Strategy.
The report says that Scottish transport policy should be founded in four guiding principles:
- A focus on accessibility rather than mobility;
- A sustainable investment and decision-making hierarchy, with demand reduction at the top and capacity increases a last resort;
- Transport appraisal to be broadened to include the full costs of transport, including health;
- Responsibility for making emissions cuts to be specifically set out by government.
The report takes a specific focus on Smarter Choices and other behaviour change measures, calling for these to be rolled out across Scotland. It finds that the funds currently attributed to the proposed Second Forth Road Bridge could provide for Smarter Choices programmes to be rolled out to all Scots for 15 years – something that, based on reports we ourselves have published over recent years, would be genuinely transformational to Scottish transport.