SC(3) CR-Plan 12

Sustainability Committee

Inquiry into Carbon Reduction in Wales: Carbon Reduction via Planning

Response from The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (UK)

Sustainability Committee
Bae Caerdydd / Cardiff Bay
Caerdydd / Cardiff
CF99 1NA

23rd January 2009

Dear Sir

Please find attached the response of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (UK) Cymru to the above.  The Institute is the professional body for everyone in the logistics, passenger transport and transport planning industries and is dedicated to supporting, developing and representing all specialisms at all stages of career development. We specifically represent the views of the Welsh members of the Institute, which number approximately 600.

Should you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact me either at the e-mail address below.

Yours faithfully

Dr. Andrew Potter MILT
Policy Officer, CILT(UK) Cymru
PotterAT@Cardiff.ac.uk

Local Transport:

"Recommendation 7 of the Committee’s second report into transport carbon reduction in Wales was:

"The Committee recommends that the Welsh Assembly Government should urgently revise its statutory planning guidance for local authorities to ensure that proposals for development are not permitted where adequate public transport cannot be provided.”

This reflects policy which goes back to the (UK-wide) PPG12 (1992 version) but which has never been adequately implemented. Alas it is couched in excessively negative terms, and likely to be used simply to increase existing restraints on sporadic rural development; likely to have limited effect on emissions growth, but possibly to increase rural problems.

What is really needed is a more positive expression:

"The Committee recommends that the Welsh Assembly Government should urgently revise its statutory planning guidance for local authorities to ensure that adequate public transport provision is included as an integral part of all new development proposals.”

This would help avoid nonsenses such as the last expansion of Culverhouse Cross (Cardiff West) which destroyed the opportunity for the regular Barry bus service to call close to the shopping. It can no doubt be argued that percentage usage is minimal; but in the absence of any facilities, there is no opportunity for a usage to establish and grow (a phenomenon widely observed in the rail industry in recent years). The committee may also want to consider including freight transport within the above expression, to ensure that consideration is given to any logistics operations that may be needed as part of the development (such as deliveries to retail outlets).

Also, it is not sufficient to provide the facilities for public transport, especially for large new housing developments. Unless the public transport itself is there for the first residents, these are obliged to invest in private transport, and become unwilling to switch later when residential density provides an apparent justification for a particular service level. The Dutch have long realised this, and have pursued an appropriate policy with some success: e.g. Utrecht new suburbs ( Ijsselstein; Nieuwegein) had fast LRT services ('Sneltram’) running before the housing was occupied; Amsterdam’s new suburb (Ijburg) was provided with a high intensity (albeit lightly loaded) bus service from the start, subsequently replaced with LRT.

In contrast, Cardiff Bay had such poor public transport when initially started that commercial parking restraints had to be relaxed (a situation planners have been trying to retrieve ever since); whilst on the residential front, although there is now a very good overall public transport provision (with one or two gaps), the first residents settled into private transport usage of necessity.

The new powers envisaged in the current Transport LCO (effectively putting Wales back on the same bus planning basis as Transport for London has always been) will, if granted, provide a tool for development of an appropriate policy in this area.

The question is also posed:

What particular actions do you think the Welsh Assembly Government should be taking to ensure that the land use planning system in Wales encourages greater progress towards the achievement of carbon reduction targets?

This is a classic case for an integrated policy, as, in order to succeed, the above proposals will require actions under both Transport and Planning powers.

Longer Distance Travel: Rail

For longer distance travel, the availability of adequate fast rail transport is essential to attract people out of their cars. It is vital that Wales is not omitted from the burgeoning Europe wide High Speed Train network. It is currently proposed that Britain’s first element, the London -Channel-Tunnel-Europe link,  be expanded by a London-North of England-Scotland link. Appropriate provision for Wales is vital.

In the short term, the electrification of key Welsh rail lines (London-Bristol-Cardiff-Swansea; and Crewe-Chester-Holyhead) is again under consideration; reflecting both an appreciation of the significance of electrification by the previous UK Transport Secretary, and more recently an increasing interest in infrastructure construction as a partial antidote to the global financial crisis. In the shortterm, this would allow through running onto the European network (as e.g. was pioneered linking peripheral France to the TGV network).

Although the Brunel-engineered Great Western main line lends itself to high speed travel, capacity constraints, and Severn Tunnel maintenance issues, indicate that a new High Speed Rail link is needed to South Wales, to include a new, more reliable, Severn Estuary crossing.

Given the current capacity problems on the M4 at Newport, it is worth recalling that the UK’s pioneering 'Multi-Modal Study’ was commissioned on exactly this problem by former Welsh Office Ministers with a view to having the report available to the Assembly at its inception.  That report suggested that the need for additional motorway capacity might be averted by, inter alia, rail improvements which included electrification. However, it was universally agreed that electrification would have to extend to the entire Great Western line, far beyond the remit of old or new Wales governmental institutions.

Now, however, that electrification and indeed the development of a UK High Speed Rail network is firmly on the UK Agenda, it is incumbent on the Assembly to revisit the multi-modal study as part of any consideration of the 'M4 South’ proposals.

Longer Distance Travel: Aviation

Aviation is recognised as a major contributor to carbon emissions. Nevertheless it is recognised that there will continue to be a demand, especially for those longer journeys which cannot be undertaken speedily even by High Speed Rail.  The recent decision to expand London (Heathrow) Airport is rather precarious, being predicated on development of more efficient aircraft; but enormous investment will nevertheless be committed on these precarious assumptions.

Wales currently possesses an international Airport (Cardiff Wales Airport - CWL) which is under served, leading to many passengers traveling long surface distances to Heathrow or other English airports; often by car. A more appropriate application of the 'precautionary principle’ would be to expand longhaul opportunities at CWL (and indeed other Regional airports serving Wales and nonmetropolitan UK); encourage the steady transfer of short-haul traffic to the emergent High Speed Rail network; and utilise the existing Heathrow capacity for essential long-haul services. Whilst this is largely outside the assembly’s current direct competences, the devolved administration is nevertheless in a position to exert influence.