A new report published today (Monday) by an alliance of environmental groups highlights the road blocks in the way of delivering better transport at the local level. 

Measures like safe routes to school, 20mph zones and traffic calming are all hampered. It calls for action to be taken if Government commitments on transport are to be fulfilled.

The report, Valuing the Small: Counting the Benefits{1}, was written by Professor Phil Goodwin of Transport Policy, University College London. It examines why small scale good value for money schemes are often sidelined for investment in big infrastructure schemes. 

The report concludes that:

• there are political and cultural barriers to the roll out of small scale transport measures; 
• big infrastructure schemes, because more work is undertaken prior to approving them, tend to look more impressive than smaller schemes, despite not necessarily being the best buy;
• current methods of appraisal include a range of in-built biases{2}, making it harder for small scale transport measures to proceed;
• the dominance of speed and time savings in appraisal means that worthwhile initiatives which provide other benefits, or safety schemes designed to slow traffic, are discouraged; and
• appraisals frequently perform badly in considering how compatible a scheme is with achieving other government policies.

The work has already influenced a study by the Department for Transport (DfT){3} which highlighted how the intensive use of integrated transport measures (like safe routes to school, the use of travel plans, and measures to improve walking and cycling) could see a reduction in urban traffic of about 21%, and 14% in the countryside, during peak periods.

Paul Hamblin, CPRE's Head of Transport Policy, said:

'Recent research has shown the huge benefits to be gained from investing in small scale measures designed to deliver real changes in people's experiences of transport.  Local environments can be improved, and transport problems tackled without resorting to damaging new road building.

'But if these benefits are to materialise, we need to see action taken to overcome the barriers which currently prevent them being given the priority they deserve in transport policy.  We will have made progress when the pictures of massive new roads and junctions which frequently adorn the offices of highway engineers, are replaced with those depicting safety or bus priority schemes.' 

Stephen Joseph, Director of Transport 2000, said:

'Ministers need to cut the bureaucracy that prevents transport progress on the ground. This report shows that some of the most effective measures to tackle transport problems face barriers from out-of-date guidance and rules designed to favour big road schemes. These need to be revised if we are to improve people's quality of life.'

Valuing the Small: Counting the Benefits calls for changes to the process of transport appraisal to ensure it is not biased against small scale schemes. It recommends that all schemes be made to  answer the simple question – will this increase or reduce our dependency on the car?

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NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. Copies of the report, Valuing the Small: Counting the Benefits, are available from each of the commissioning organisations. The report is being published today (Monday 11 October), but was the subject of a seminar with the Department for Transport and other Government officials in 2002. 

2. There are a range of obstacles in transport appraisal which currently act as barriers to the development of small scale measures. These are detailed in the report and include the dominance of speed and time savings, a failure to ascribe financial benefits to making people feel safer on roads, inadequate treatment of the economic implications of transport projects, inaccurate assumptions which suggest all the necessary information is available to the public to help them make rationale transport decisions, and poor data collection for walking and cycling. 

3. The report, Smarter Choices – Changing the Way we Travel, was published by the Department for Transport in July 2004 and considers how a range of integrated transport measures can tackle the problems caused by traffic and congestion.