Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs

The Government's Response to the
Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution's
20th Report

RESPONSE TO THE MAIN CONCLUSIONS OF THE REPORT

General

For national sustainability goals to be met, transport in the UK must be radically modified. As at the time of the Commission's Eighteenth Report, official forecasts for the next quarter century show road traffic continuing to increase at a similar rate to the last quarter century, with no assurance as yet that improvements in vehicle technology will bring about the required improvements in air quality. Unless this position changes, the consequences will be environmentally, economically and socially unacceptable (8.1).

  1. The Government agrees that forecast levels of traffic would have unacceptable consequences, adding to existing problems of congestion and pollution . That is why it acted quickly and announced the fundamental review of transport policy which culminated in the publication this July of "A New Deal for Transport: Better for Everyone", the Government's White Paper on the future of transport. The White Paper sets out a transport policy that will extend choice and secure mobility in a way that supports sustainable development.
    We continue to believe that targets for the reduction of road traffic must have a clear and specific justification in terms of the environmental benefits they are expected to achieve, and must represent the preferred and most effective method of achieving those objectives (6.42).
  2. Increased traffic and congestion is at the heart of many of the problems addressed by the White Paper. The amount of road traffic will be a powerful indicator of how things are going at the national and local level. Local traffic authorities are already required to consider setting local targets for traffic reduction in accordance with local circumstances. The question of national targets for road traffic has been considered by Parliament in the context of the Road Traffic Reduction (National Targets) Bill which received Royal Assent in July 1998. The Government supported this Bill through the Parliamentary process and will assess the broad impact on national traffic levels of the measures contained in the White Paper. In the light of that assessment and advice from the Commission for Integrated Transport (the new independent body Government will set up to review progress on implementing integrated transport policy) it will consider how national targets can best help.
  3. The Government agrees with the Royal Commission that national targets for road traffic reduction must have a clear and specific justification in terms of the environmental benefits they are expected to achieve and must represent the preferred and most effective method of achieving those objectives. More generally, the Government will support the New Deal for Transport with clear and challenging targets, setting out what it wants to achieve and by when. It is already working to international and national targets for protecting the environment and there will be new targets, for example for modal shift to public transport. In drawing up new targets Government will balance the costs and benefits of such targets and seek advice from the Commission for Integrated Transport on the form they might take.

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Published 23 December 1998
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