Postscript - Transport Policy and Planning in Great Britain - page 429

25 Postscript
Thinking afresh
We really need to start working differently in the transport sector - we can't solve
problems using the same thinking we used when we created them.
(Hickman and Banister 2006)
25.1 Introduction
This final chapter is different from the remainder in being a personal reflection - mainly
on the strategic choices reported in the preceding chapter. The comments offered are
not the product of a formal research exercise but are in the nature of 'conclusions'
developed during the course of writing this topic.
The historical, social and spatial planning perspectives which have been applied to
transport policy at various points re-emerge here in the way its future is considered.
Hopefully the reader will find the material an interesting counterpoint to the themes of
conventional wisdom which have been reported thus far. Of course other authors have
offered their own divergent views which perhaps warrant synthesis into an 'alternative'
text (e.g. Whitelegg, Hillman and Plowden to name three of the most enduring) - but
that would be a project in itself. However it is worth singling out the work by David
Banister on the prospects for sustainable transport in an international context and
his conclusions on the need for more imaginative thinking about the future (Banister
2005 Chapter 11). These set the context within which the more specific comments are
made here about strategic policy in Great Britain.
We begin by arguing that behavioural change should be the basis on which future
forecasts are generated, not as a means of tweaking the outcomes of a business-as-
usual scenario (25.2). This requires that reducing traffic growth and protecting
accessibility are viewed as priority objectives (25.3). An urban strategy is proposed
based on lessening individual car ownership as this opens up the possibility of more
discriminating travel choices (25.4). We then explore the need to rethink inter-urban
travel as the erstwhile 'no go' area for reducing car use (25.5) and propose two policy
initiatives to bring about better use of inter-urban roads and counter car dependence
(25.6).
With the exception of halting inter-urban road-building these suggestions can
be used to enhance the current trajectory of official policy. They are believed to be
key steps which would enable transport to play its part in contributing to genuinely
sustainable development.