This week, the Department for Transport finally published its much delayed Transport Decarbonisation Plan. In this blog I’d like to share my initial reflections on the parts of the plan that have the greatest implications for CIHT and the transportation profession.

Firstly, there are a lot of positives. The TDP looks and feels like a genuine plan, It has a vision and objectives, though is sometimes a little more ambiguous on specific targets and the powers and resources to go with them. As is often the case, numerous further consultations are promised to fill in this missing detail.

Fears that the TDP would talk overwhelmingly in terms of technical fixes have not been borne out. Accelerating Modal Shift and Place Based Solutions to Emissions Reduction take their place alongside Decarbonising Road Transport and UK as Hub for Green Transport Technology and Innovation in a basket of strategic objectives. This maps on to the Climate Change Committee’s advice that we need to “do everything” if we are to stay within the UK’s legally binding carbon budget.

The plan is also good on recognising the potential co-benefits of decarbonisation in terms of reduced congestion, better air quality, healthy communities et al. Indeed the Secretary of State in his forward says, “I believe that the struggle for decarbonised transport, clean development and clear air is as important as the struggle for clean water was in the 19^th Century”.

What does however stand out is that the tech-fix elements of the plan are to be delivered by central government, while behaviour change is firmly in the hands of Local Authorities. There is some logic to this. Councils are of course much closer to the public and have the local knowledge to develop solutions that have a fighting chance of working with the grain of how different communities currently function. They are however short of funds and in many areas short of powers.

The TDP does make some very welcome commitments to address this shortfall. It reconfirms several previously trailed packages of funding to support walking and cycling, buses and other transport interventions. There is also a commitment that, “going forward Local Transport Plans will need to set out how local areas will deliver ambitious, quantifiable carbon reductions in transport”, alongside linked pledges to reform Transport Appraisal and the allocation of funding. A new body Active Travel England will also be created, which will be a statutory consultee on developments above a yet to be defined threshold. From a CIHT perspective it was particularly pleasing to see a commitment to ensuring that the update to Manual for Streets, currently being led by the Institution, becomes a key tool for decision makers.

Driving behaviour change is however difficult, and often unpopular and it isn’t helpful if it is simply passed to under resourced Local Authorities to deal with. Some of DfT’s communications on the day of the launch run the risk of exacerbating this problem. The Secretary of State’s widely quoted statement that the TDP was about, “doing the same thing differently” could, if taken out of context send out a message that beyond switching to an electric vehicle, nothing much will have to change for the average road user.

Indeed, more broadly the launch of the TDP does feel like a missed opportunity to at least begin difficult conversations with the public – and demonstrate the benefits of change that the TDP explains so well.

Speaking of difficult conversations perhaps the biggest pair of elephants in the room not really tackled head on by the TDP are the carbon impact of Highways England’s £27Bn Roads Investment Strategy and the financial impact of the loss of tax revenue that will come with the phasing out of petrol and diesel vehicles.

To be fair some of this omission just reflects the scope of the TDP. Decarbonising construction for example is picked up elsewhere in government. At the level of strategic policy, the plan does contain a very welcome commitment to review the National Policy Statement on National Networks (produced way back in 2014) in the light of the commitment to Net Zero. The plan also flags that DfT has initiated a Carbon Management Programme to manage whole life carbon of its infrastructure projects at the portfolio level. Highways England are due to publish its own carbon plan shortly, giving us more detail on how the operator will respond to the TDP.

None of that however answers the question of how the adaptation and maintainance of the network is to be paid for. Road User Charging is not a magic bullet and is not the only option – but it does have the potential to close the funding gap and make a positive impact on individual transport choices.

The TDP is over 200 pages long and I can’t cover all of its contents in a short blog. If you’d like a deeper dive I’d recommend this more detailed analysis from CIHT Fellow and member of our Carbon Pledge Advisory Group Glenn Lyons).

Looking forward, perhaps the most important takeaway is simply that we do now have a plan. CIHT is absolutely committed to playing its part in its delivery. There will be more information on how we intend to support members and the sector over the coming weeks. In the meantime do let us know your thoughts on TDP and the issues you think need to be addressed if it is to be implemented successfully..

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