Project appraisal - Transport Policy and Planning in Great Britain - page 357

Local authorities in the South West campaigned unsuccessfully against the A358
option on the basis that the region would remain dependent on a single strategic road
link west of Taunton and hence was still vulnerable to being 'cut off' in the event
of a traffic accident or similar incident. Although the concept of a 'second strategic
route' had strong political appeal the evidence of the appraisal demonstrated that, for
the A303/A30 option to be preferred, it would have had to over-ride the combined
advantages offered by the A358 option of a lower capital cost, higher BCR, and
avoidance of severe adverse effects on landscape and biodiversity.
21.6 The generation of proposals
Choice is exercised most obviously at the point when a decision is being made between
rival options or schemes. This explains the enormous amount of attention given to
this stage of the planning process in the Department's Transport Analysis Guidance.
However this emphasis is misleading in the sense that the output of any appraisal
can only be as good as the proposals it is applied to. This begs the question of where
proposals come from. Given the almost infinite number of possible schemes - where
they are located, the form they take and the purposes they are directed to - it is
arguably in the generation of proposals that the greatest amount of choice is exercised.
How is this critical element to be handled?
TAG presents this issue in the context of a comprehensive study following the
classic 'rational' planning process described earlier (17.2). This process is essentially
conducted in a linear sequence of stages (Figure 21.2) although the consideration of
options in particular is likely to go through a number of iterations as the evidence from
one set of tests is used to refine the possibilities under investigation.
Some general guidance about the initial objectives and problems stages are given
in TAG unit 2.2 but this does not really confront the difficulties of theory and practice
surrounding the subject. Some of the difficulties of principle were highlighted in
Chapter 11.
As far as local and regional objectives are concerned there is no guarantee that
these will mesh with those being pursued by DfT, particularly (as is likely) if they are
not conceived in purely transport terms. This can lead to a somewhat schizophrenic
situation familiar to local government officers in which a locally generated scheme
rests upon one set of arguments for local consumption and another for the purposes
of presentation to central government! There is no easy technical or political means
of reconciling such differences and their separate representation in the regional
prioritisation process reflects this (22.6).
Conceptually objectives and problems are linked, in that a problem can be defined
as a condition which conflicts with the attainment of an objective. Given a statement
of national objectives and targets (11.4 and 11.6) it is comparatively straightforward,
though demanding of technical resources, to undertake an analysis of existing and
likely future conditions, to identify where problems arise and to focus a study of
possible interventions accordingly. This is predominantly the approach followed on
the national rail and trunk road networks, partly because these are the responsibility
of central government and partly because of the rather unfortunate tradition whereby
these have been viewed and managed as 'freestanding' transport arteries operating
largely independently of the local areas and communities through which they run.
By contrast local transport networks (which include non-trunk roads of regional
importance) are mainly the responsibility of local authorities and their functioning