Dear Mair,
With Parliament breaking up for Easter and with local elections approaching in May, there have been a slew of transport policy announcements by the government. The first involved the much delayed integrated national transport policy: Better Connected. It was full of fine words, a few welcome proposals, the most notable being the 'Mini-Switzerland' trial in Hope Valley, but felt lacking in substance. At the same time, the even more delayed update to Local Transport Plan guidance was published. Low Traffic Future will be developing briefings on this shortly (see Have Your Say! below). Again it says many good things, but without any enforcement it could easily be ignored.
Consequently, little is likely to change, unless all these fine words, including in the third roads programme (RIS3) and the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), are backed by better decisions and shifting funding from bigger roads to active travel and public transport. You can read our reaction to this blitz of policy change in our latest blog: Delivering change requires more than words.
The fact that we're off track on reducing carbon emissions in the transport sector (in addition to failing to tackle many other issues) is again highlighted by Professor Greg Marsden of the Institute for Transport Studies, at the University of Leeds. He has crunched the numbers in the Carbon Budget and Growth Delivery Plan (from October 2025) to show that "current plans will significantly overshoot the anticipated progress set out by the Climate Change Committee". By this he means we will not reduce carbon emissions quickly enough. He calls for a national task force to be established to review the "opportunities for a more radical and exciting rethink of how we access and use vehicles and move around". You can hear more about it in this webinar.
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Congratulations to the Community Planning Alliance for their national day of action on 18 April that saw 220 groups take part. This sent a strong message to the government that people care about nature. It's not too late to add your voice.
Some sad news for TAN this month as Rhian, our Welsh roads and climate campaigner, will be leaving us and will be much missed. We will await the outcome of the Senedd elections before deciding what to do next in Wales.
Talking of elections, if you have them in your area, don't forget to vote for politicians who are prepared to call for greater investment in active travel and public transport. Warm words are not enough, they need to switch funding from bigger roads, or things won't change in any meaningful way.
On a much happier note, here's wishing Sir David Attenborough a happy 100th birthday on 8 May!
Chris, Becca, Nisha, Rhian, Ed and Roger
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Cost of living affects travel behaviours
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Unsurprisingly, the cost of living has come back as an issue with the Iran war pushing up oil prices. This has put immediate pressure on driving but in time it will also negatively impact on public transport. The UK government has done very little to help people, unlike in other places where free or reduced price public transport is being offered. Some countries are also reducing demand to try to stop prices rising further and to reduce the likelihood of rationing. It's an opportunity to change travel behaviour, but as during Covid it's another opportunity our government is likely to miss.
In the absence of government action, people and businesses are looking at ways to save money. Cycling UK has carried out research showing motorists are switching to cycling and walking more to cut costs. However, unless the government acts to make cycling safer, the switch will be mostly done by men. Women are more likely just to stop driving and risk becoming more socially isolated as a result.
Shared transport companies are also entering the fray. Lime (the world's largest shared electric vehicle company), for example, has introduced a product designed to be cheaper than a single bus or tram fare. As long as the weather is good, the advantage of scooting or cycling is that it's usually much faster than travelling by bus. We will see if the cost and time savings lead to a big shift in travel behaviour. However, the biggest value from this new service would be if it enticed more people out of their cars.
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Now the Government has published its Local Transport Plan (LTP) guidance, Low Traffic Future are updating their quick and full guides for councillors and campaigners to influence LTPs. They’d like your feedback on whether you found them helpful and how could they be improved. Thoughts please to he...@lowtrafficfuture.org.uk.
And don't forget to vote for better transport (and better places) in the elections next week. It's not too late to send candidates in England Low Traffic Future's template email (adapt it as you see fit). You can check their contact details on the Democracy Club website. All the manifestos of parties standing in the Senedd elections and details of who’s standing for the Scottish elections, are also there. (You just need to enter your postcode).
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With all the recent road announcements we’ve published a blog listing all the new road threats, many of which are in The Midlands. Please check the blog to see what is happening in your area. TAN has written to the DfT about the status of 26 local road schemes that were not given the go-ahead but were left in limbo.
We’ve written separately to clarify what happens if, after the 7 May elections, a new council wishes to cancel an outdated road scheme that previously had DfT funding and called for greater transparency about the terms of that funding. We pointed out that if DfT demands money back, this will deter councils from scrapping unviable road schemes. Meanwhile, more details have emerged about the new £165m Growth and Housing Accelerator Fund announced in RIS3, which looks likely to encourage more car and lorry based development.
The Stop the A38 Expansion campaign in Derby has been busy, with excellent local coverage from a previously pro-road journalist, questioning the road project and whether this is the best use of funds. This shows the tide is turning against this controversial project, and the importance of never giving up. The recent publication of RIS3 showed the start date for the A38 scheme has been pushed back to 2030, so plenty of time for politicians to see sense and pull the plug on this outdated urban road which will increase traffic, noise and carbon, cause years of chaos in Derby, whilst destroying thousands of trees.
The campaign recently scored a victory over National Highways who had previously refused to disclose the information on the A38 it had supplied to the DfT during the capital spend review. The A38 campaign took this to the Information Commissioner (ICO) and won. National Highways appealed, but after the A38 campaign joined to defend the ICO’s decision at court, National Highways backed down. This, and previously released information, revealed that the cost of the project had soared 200% to over £600m and that the Benefit Cost Ratio has plummeted to 1.1 (meaning for every £1 spent, there is only a £1.10 benefit - hardly worth the years of chaos on Derby’s roads!).
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Two interesting publications this month come from people whose research was funded by the Foundation for Integrated Transport (our core funders). The first was by former Guardian journalist Laura Laker who has produced a guide to help people achieve traffic-free routes in rural areas. You can also find it on our website.
The second was by Jonathan Bray, former director of the Urban Transport Group and previously a campaigner on roads and railways. He's produced a new report called: Decarbonising suburban transport: Ways of thinking and acting. It's an interesting read and provides some useful insights.
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England's Economic Heartland has produced an initial report on integration and launched an Integration Taskforce to help the region roll out new development and transport in an integrated and trailblazing way.
South West - if anyone is interested in freight in the South West you can ask to join the freight forum and attend meetings
Western Gateway STB has its next Board meeting on 25 June (1-3pm) online. You need to email westerng...@westofengland-ca.gov.uk for an invite.
London - the Energy Savings Trust Take is after participants for a research project about holiday travel habits if you live, work or study in London. Register here: https://www.treeps.ch/
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There's a number of interesting events coming up:
- May - National Walking Month which is organised by Living Street
- 7 May, 10:00 - 11:00 - The Future of the Habitats Regulations [FREE webinar by Landmark Chambers and Pinsent Masons] Register here
- 11 May, 11:00 - 11:45 - Spotlight on the Keswick to Threlkeld railway trail [FREE webinar by ATE] Register here
- 13 May, 13:00 - 14:30 - TAG Forthcoming Changes seminar [FREE webinar by DfT] Register here
- 14 May, 10:00 - 16:30 - Building Digital Power for Climate and Nature: Innovating for Impact [FREE in person event in London by Forward Action and We Are Rally, in collaboration with The Climate Coalition and Wildlife and Countryside Link] Register here
- 14 May, 18:00 - 19:30 - Spring 2026 Local Elections: What's next? [FREE webinar by Friends of the Earth] Reserve a spot
- 15 May, 10:00 - 18:30 - London Walking Festival Conference 2026 [FREE in person event in London by Walking@Tea-time and Footways (lunch included). Speakers include Andrew Gilligan and Steve Gooding amongst many others] Register here
- 19 May, 12:00 - 13:00 - Overshoot: An analysis of progress, risks and opportunities for decarbonising surface transport [FREE webinar by Infuse] Register here
- 19 May, 18:00 - 20:15 - Active Hope (resilience and well-being practice) [FREE webinar by Friends of the Earth] Reserve a spot
- 20 May - Climate Change Committee publishes The Fourth Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk
- 21 May, 10:00 - 16:30 - Building Digital Power for Climate and Nature: Bootcamp [FREE in person event in London by Forward Action and We Are Rally, in collaboration with The Climate Coalition and Wildlife and Countryside Link] Register here
- 26 May, 18:00 - 19:00 - A history of environmental activism at Twyford Down [FREE webinar by Helen Baczkowska of Norfolk Wildlife Trust] Reserve a spot here
- 30 May - Ecosocialism conference [In person event in London for those of a more radical persuasion - costs to attend] Tickets here
- 1 - 7 June - Community Rail Week, organised by Community Rail Network around the theme of 'Journeys for all'
- 3 June, 11:00 - 11:45 - Introduction to the Bikeability Trust Bike Bus Leader Guide [FREE webinar by ATE] Register here
- 15 - 21 June - Better Transport Week, organised by Campaign for Better Transport
- 19 June, 09:00 - 19:00 - Better Transport Conference [FREE in person event at London South Bank University, by Campaign for Better Transport] Get tickets here
- 24-25 June - Curious Cities Assembly [FREE in person 2-day event in London by Clean Cities in partnership with other organisations] Apply for a place
- June - Climate Change Committee publishes its progress report to Parliament
- July - National Highways' Delivery Plan published (how it will deliver RIS3)
- July - National Highways' Annual Report and Accounts for 2025-26 published
- 1 - 30 September - Catch the Bus Month
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