Eddington Transport Study—Recommendations

Source: British Library

To deliver a transport system capable of supporting the continued success of the UK economy in the global market place, whilst ensuring that transport plays its role in meeting environmental challenges, the Eddington Transport Study recommends:

1. To meet the changing needs of the UK economy, Government should focus policy and sustained investment on improving the performance of existing transport networks, in those places that are important for the UK’s economic success;

2. Over the next 20 years, the three strategic economic priorities for transport policy should be: congested and growing city atchments; and the key interurban corridors and the key international gateways that are showing signs of increasing congestion and unreliability. These are the most heavily used and economically significant parts of the network;

3. Government should adopt a sophisticated policy mix to meet both economic and environmental goals. Policy should get the prices right (especially congestion pricing on the roads and environmental pricing across all modes) and make best use of existing networks. Reflecting the high returns available from some transport investment, based on full appraisal of environmental and
social costs and benefits, the Government, together with the private sector should deliver sustained and targeted infrastructure investment, in those schemes which demonstrate high returns, including smaller schemes tackling pinch points;

4. The policy process needs to be rigorous and systematic: start with the three strategic economic priorities, define the problems, consider the full range of modal options using appraisal techniques that include full environmental and social costs and benefits, and ensure that spending is focused on the best policies; and

5. Government needs to ensure the delivery system is ready to meet future challenges, including through reform of sub-national governance arrangements and reforming the planning process for major transport projects by introducing a new Independent planning Commission to take decisions on projects of strategic importance.

Source: Eddington Transport Study

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