24 August 2012
Scottish Budget must support sustainable transport
Transform Scotland has submitted its evidence to the Scottish Parliament's Finance Committee in response to its
call for evidence on the Scottish Government's Draft Budget 2013-14.
In our evidence, we call upon the Government’s approach to stress three key principles:
- Focus public expenditure on assisting investment by small-scale, local, Scottish companies and public bodies.
- Give preventative spend measures a much higher priority in its investment decisions.
- Stress the benefits of cross-cutting initiatives in order to break down the compartmentalised nature of existing Government budgeting.
And, specifically, that the Government's forthcoming Budget should:
- Establish Scotland as a centre of excellence in sustainable technology for public transport.
- Increase investment in active travel infrastructure in order to benefit Scottish suppliers.
- Make road maintenance rather than road-building the focus of the its roads policy.
- Increase investment in measures (e.g. 'Smarter Choices') which would also allow the Government to meet its commitments under the Climate Change Act (Scotland) 2009.
The Government's draft budget is expected to be published before 20 September.