Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
We expect to see further growth in car ownership and use over the next 30 years.
The car provides many benefits, but the challenge is to ensure that people have
other options, including good quality public transport and the opportunity to
walk or cycle.
(DfT 2004f para 1.9)
The theme used to introduce the White Paper was the unoriginal one of the
challenge presented by the demand for travel in the context of historic under-
investment in infrastructure. On this basis almost any investment programme was
justification in itself. The only advance on the Ten Year Plan (apart from a necessary
revision of projections and targets) was confirmation of the Government's intention
'to explore new ways of paying for road use which incentivise smarter individual
choices about when and how we travel'. Drawing on the results of the Road Pricing
Feasibility Study it intended to push ahead with persuading major stakeholders and the
general public so as to secure the political consensus needed to translate such a radical
proposal into practice:
There is a need for a mature discussion as to which approach we take. The
Government view is that the costs of inaction or unrestricted road-building are
too high for society. The time has come seriously to consider the role that could
be played by some form of road pricing policy.
(DfT 2004f para 3.23)
Overall, with the 2005 general election in prospect, the White Paper sought to put
the best possible complexion on events of the previous six years. The Government's
'achievements' were expressed almost entirely in terms of physical outputs and
administrative or institutional changes (i.e. not in outcomes). In a manner reminiscent
of the former Soviet Union the previous (1998) White Paper was air-brushed out
of existence - not only any mention of the document itself, but also several of its
distinctive features: notably integration, social inclusion, traffic reduction and even
sustainable development. An enhanced spending trajectory had been secured as part
of the 2004 Comprehensive Spending Review but, aside from short-term targets, there
was no clear sense of what longer term strategy it was contributing to.
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