Before mass motorisation - Transport Policy and Planning in Great Britain - page 71

An important exception at this time were the arrangements made in London. Chaotic
traffic conditions in the capital had already led to the imposition of restrictions on bus
operation in certain streets. There was recognition of the need to develop tube and
suburban electrified railways to relieve road congestion, but also concern that investment
might be inhibited whilst there was no protection from road-based competition.
To address this situation the 1933 London Passenger Transport Act was passed under
which all bus, tram and underground railways in London were acquired or transferred to
a new public authority - London Transport - established as a nationalised industry with
a management board appointed by the Minister of Transport. In the capital therefore,
except for conventional suburban railways, there was a monopoly of public transport
operation throughout a wide area and not merely along particular routes. Uniquely, the
principle of co-ordinated planning and of monopoly operation along individual routes
has persisted in the capital to the present day.
4.6 Developing a national road network
The demise of the turnpike trusts in the railway age led to responsibility for highways
falling back on to parish councils and their funding on to local rates. Amalgamation of
parishes into highway districts was permitted in an ad hoc manner but it was not until
local government was reorganised in 1888 and 1894 that a unified system was created,
with county borough councils in the main towns and county councils elsewhere being
the main highway authorities. Essentially this system has been retained to the present
day, although with the superimposition of a higher tier of trunk roads and motorways
which are the responsibility of Central Government, as described below.
After 1910 local authorities benefited from grants and loans paid by the Roads
Board, set up to administer the Road Improvement Fund referred to earlier. A series
of conferences was held between the Roads Board and local authorities during the
period 1912-16 and these generated many of the improvement schemes which were
undertaken in the subsequent inter-war period.
In 1919 the function of the Roads Board was transferred to the newly created
Ministry of Transport. It was at this time that a national system of classifying roads
was introduced, with rates of grant for improvement set at different levels depending
on the class (i.e. importance) of road. In London the Ministry of Transport itself took
responsibility for the building of a number of 'arterial' roads such as the Eastern and
Western Avenues which were intended to take over the role of the traditional radial
routes in these sectors.
Elsewhere especially high rates of grant were offered for the improvement of the most
important inter-urban routes. However the initiative for bringing forward improvement
proposals still rested with the county councils whose enthusiasm was inevitably
conditioned by their share of the costs. Road interest groups therefore campaigned
for the transfer of the most important roads to the Ministry of Transport in order to
inject consistency and a national dimension into the planning and programming of
improvements.
Under the Trunk Roads Act of 1936 the Ministry of Transport took over responsibility
for 4,500 miles of the most important through routes. Sections of these routes passing
through London and the county boroughs were excluded, although it was anticipated
that in time bypasses would be constructed around the towns concerned thereby
creating a continuous trunk road network. This division of responsibility has often left
an important physical legacy as far as the form of the main road network is concerned