ibp News

The title of the parliamentary seminar included a strategically placed question mark – ‘Transport in Crisis?’ – but the consensus among the transport experts, politicians and journalists present seemed to be that if transport throughout Britain was not already in crisis then it soon would be if urgent action were not taken.

The seminar, held at the House of Commons, sponsored by the All-Party Parliamentary Built Environment Group and organised by the International Building Press, was attended by a wide range of representatives from local authorities, trade and professional bodies, individual contractors and transport companies, politicians and the construction and transport media.

The morning session, held in Committee Room 10 and chaired by Lord Howie of Troon and Michael Clapham M.P., featured a topquality team of transport experts – David Sterry, Chairman of the Transport Group of the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA); Keith Miller, Director of Major Projects for the Highways Agency; Chris Welsh, Head of  ampaigns at the Freight Transport Association; Joe Weiss, Strategic Transportation Director at the Corporation of London and Debbie Hewitt, Director at RAC Rescue. The panel of journalists questioning them comprised Paul Finch, Editor, Architectural Review; Aaron Morby, Editor of Construction News; Denise Chevin, Editor of Building and Antony Oliver, Editor of New Civil Engineer, all representing the principal journals reporting on the construction, development and servicing of  ransport systems throughout Britain.

Gerald Bowey, Chief Executive Officer of IBP, kicked off the debate when he recalled that a year ago IBP members had been told by the then Transport Minister, Tony McNulty, that it was not a question of whether the key Cross Rail project across London would be built but when and how. Since then no measurable progress had been made and this was indicative of the transport problems facing London.

This opening set the tone for the wide-ranging and lively debate that characterised the morning session. The experts clearly felt that there was a serious lack of long term planning of national and regional transport systems by both central and local government and the key transport agencies; that funding provision was ill directed and targeted; that better management of existing systems was needed including greater use of state of the art technology and that transport policy needed to be ‘de-politicised’ and taken out of the Treasury’s current accounts.

The journalists probed them on how systems could best be improved and over the intensive two-hour debate, a six-point policy package emerged for future Government action:
1. A long-term strategy for the improvement and development of national transport systems on roads, rails and in the air, needed to be put in place as soon as possible;
2. Government funding should be better-directed and targeted towards priority projects both nationally and regionally and greater access should be permitted for companies and agencies for funding from the money
markets;
3. The construction industry and key transport  gencies should develop a stronger and more effective voice to get their messages over to Government and their advisers;
4. There should be much more ‘blue skies thinking’ and the  development of new transport innovations to meet the transport challenges of the future;
5. Better management of existing transport systems was needed to maximise the facilities already in place, including the much wider use of up to date technology,
and 6. Urgent progress was needed on key projects such as Cross Rail in London instead of interminable studies and inquiries, which effectively stifled development.

Two key quotes, from the many dozens made by the experts and journalists taking part in the morning session; One from Paul Finch: “What we are looking at is the systemic failure of Government policy over a long period of time.” and from Joe Weiss: “Nowhere in the Labour Party Manifesto for the last election can I find the ‘T’ word (for transport!). If Paul Finch’s remark seemed glaringly self-evident, Joe Weiss’s was quite revelatory.

After lunch on the Terrace in the House of Commons, sponsored by Lord Howie, permitting valuable networking opportunities for delegates with experts and journalists, the afternoon session – ‘The political perspective’ – was held in the Grand Committee Room, which acts almost as a reserve Parliamentary Chamber.

In the perverse way that events can sometimes work, a crucial Parliamentary Debate on Railtrack had been suddenly scheduled for the afternoon of the seminar and this meant that the formidable Gwyneth Dunwoody, Chair of the Commons Select Committee on Transport, was unable to take her expected place on the M.P.s panel. Since the Conservatives had earlier declined a place on the panel, it was left to Dr.John Pugh, M.P. the Liberal Democrats spokesman on Transport, to hold the political fort – a task he performed with both charm and skill and to the general acclaim of delegates present.

Question Masters for the afternoon session were: Dick Murray, Transport Correspondent of the London Evening Standard; Giles Barrie, Editor of Property Week, Ty Byrd, Editor, Transport Professional and Clive Branson, Editor, Commercial Property Register. Chairmen were Bill Olner M.P., Deputy Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Built Environment Group and Lord Davies of Coity.

John Pugh said the Government’s instinct when dealing with transport policy was to hold a policy review to get themselves off the hook of taking key decisions. But urgent problems of traffic congestion, environmental pollution and health and safety affecting existing transport systems were looming and need equally urgent attention. He said two principal solutions were ‘on the table’ – we could either try to build our way out of our problems or we could seek ways further to maximise our use of existing transport capacity. Either way, he warned, transport projects were ‘slow burn’ and, in the face of demands for spending on schools, hospitals and housing, could all too easily be put on the back slow burner.

During the debate it emerged that Regional Transport Boards, about which very little had been heard since their inception, were up and running, at least in some regions and Ian Dowling of CECA expressed concern that further delays in improving transport infrastructure could result from their operation. Once again key quotes stood out from the cut and thrust of the debate: from Dr.Pugh on the problems of traffic congestion: “The evidence is that people are happy to move from car to tram but not so happy to move between car and bus so in the North West local authorities are busy trying to make their buses look like trams!”.

From Ty Byrd on the general political attitude to transport policy: “I detect a total lack ofpolitical will on the part of Government.”  In summary the two  sessions of the seminar demonstrated clearly that transport in Britain in 2005 and beyond was facing a crisis and that urgent solutions needed to be found. To apply Gerald Bowey’s opening remarks on delays to Cross Rail in London to the wider problems of transport in Britain in the future: “It is not whether there is going to be a crisis in transport – it is when, and how we try to overcome it.”

Even after a fascinating and lively exchange of views that took place on October 24 in the Houses of Parliament, it is far from easy to see where the much-needed solutions are going to come from.