Decarbonisation Plan ‘lacks concrete measures to move spending away from road building’, says transport charity

Responding to the publication of Decarbonising Transport: A Better, Greener Britain, Silviya Barrett, Head of Policy, Research and Projects at Campaign for Better Transport, said:

“This is a bold and ambitious plan which identifies public transport and active travel as key to decarbonising the transport sector. There is a lot that we are happy to welcome, the proposed zero emission vehicles mandate and the phase-out of the sale of new diesel and petrol heavy goods vehicles by 2040 for instance, and we are pleased to see local authorities will all need to make carbon reductions. This needs to translate to specific modal shift and motor traffic reduction, and we are committed to helping authorities achieve this.

“What this plan does lack is any concrete measures to rebalance transport spending away from road building and towards more sustainable modes. Reform of vehicle taxation is long overdue, so we’re glad to see this is being hinted at in the plan, but we need to see a formal commitment and a timeframe for replacing the current system with distance-based road pricing to help support the transition to cleaner vehicles and greater use of public transport and other green modes.”