At the most basic level the TDP must be a genuine plan with clear objectives, specific targets and unambiguous responsibilities, all backed with the necessary powers and resources. That doesn’t sound like a high bar but in its recent annual report, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), the government’s own statutory advisory body observed that the government’s “willingness to set emissions targets of genuine ambition contrasts with a reluctance to implement the realistic policies necessary to achieve them” and pointing to a worrying pattern of, “Government strategies that are later than planned and, when they do emerge, (fall) short of the required policy ambition.” The TDP must not fit this description.

We expect to see the TDP acknowledge the role of transport in creating sustainable places. As our Better Planning, Better Transport, Better Places (CIHT, 2019) report recommended, this has to include a much more integrated approach to transport and land use planning policy. New housing and provision for public transport and active travel must be better co-ordinated. We  also believe this is an opportunity to reform  the transport appraisal process so that schemes are assessed against much clearer criteria for measurable reductions in the need for travel and transported related emissions.

All of this means that that the TDP cannot be (just) a tech-fix to transport’s emission problem, with electric and hydrogen vehicles allowing business as usual to continue. If nothing else, the CCC’s own analysis shows that will not work and that significant behavioural change will be needed to keep emissions to a safe level. In this context CIHT would like to see road user charging  on the table as an option for consideration. The TDP should facilitate the reallocation of road space in the parts of the network where we should be prioritising active travel and public transport use.  We recognise that both measures are controversial, which is why it is so important that the government gets its messaging right and is brave enough to start having these difficult conversations with the public. There are enormous upsides to the Net Zero transition but government should not give the impression that it will not involve change that some people will find challenging.

If government wants to start that conversation on the right foot, it really needs to use the TDP to explain what it thinks the transportation system is for and how it will change between now and 2050. Much recent debate has perhaps inevitably focused on the future of roadbuilding, in particular Highways England’s Roads Investment Strategy (RIS). It is certainly true that we need to look at how we build and how much can be built if we are to live within our legally binding carbon budget.

But just as importantly, how does the government want people and businesses to use our roads – and the rest of our transport infrastructure? What are the alternatives and how will they be facilitated? These are the fundamental questions the TDP must begin to tackle – and are the basis for a conversation about a real change to our transportation system that CIHT is prepared to lead.

Last year, in our report Improving Local Highways the Route to a Better Future (CIHT, 2020) we called for government to create a new focus for the Local Highway Network that “supports the delivery of a carbon neutral system, creates sustainable, green resilient and accessible places, makes transport healthy and helps the economy grow”. The TDP needs to embrace this idea and extend that thinking to the Strategic Road Network and do it quickly or the sector will appear to be on the back foot when we have the opportunity to shape our future.

We must make these decisions at pace because change is happening now. In Wales we have already seen that the government has frozen new road building, indicating it wants to shift spending to adapting the existing infrastructure to support the transition to Net Zero and give users more choice. Elsewhere Highways England CEO Nick Harris last week told a conference, “the environment has moved from being incredibly important to almost existential for the future of road building”. The CCC annual report comments that the government is sending out mixed messages and calls for a new Net Zero Test to ensure that all decisions, including those about transport infrastructure are compatible with the emissions targets that the government has itself put into legislation.  That legislation also opens up the sector to more challenges in the courts, along the lines of the Transport Action Network’s current case against RIS 2.

The TDP really ought to be an important step on the route to Net Zero. If we believe it falls short in ambition or detail CIHT will act as a critical friend to government and highlight any weaknesses. We are also continuing to develop our own plans to ensure that the profession is in a position to have the necessary skills to play its full part in the transition – about which you will hear much more in the coming months.