CfIT / Begg on the way out!
Discussion
www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-41-649521,00.html
(Forwarded from the ABD mailing list, thanks to Paul Smith)
Beg to differ
Labour is stung by transport policy criticism
Labour came to power trumpeting a seamless approach to one of Britain’s most intractable issues, transport. John Prescott was to be the new supremo, uniting in his capacious new department — Transport, Environment and the Regions — and underlining this commitment to joined-up government with the creation of a Commission for Integrated Transport. Six years later, with ministers and policies succeeding each other with even more dizzy confusion than under the Conservatives, transport remains the most disintegrated, underfunded and chaotic issue on the government agenda. Spin took over from substance, promises from reality. And in a humiliating climb-down Labour has now apparently decided quietly to bury the CfIT.
The commission’s brief was tailor-made for an appealing manifesto: to bring together all the competing forms of transport so that the public had a viable alternative to the private car. New train and bus hubs would mesh, timetables would be co-ordinated, security, punctuality and service improved. It did not happen. No one appeared to have costed such grandiose proposals. No one knew precisely what the brief entailed. And no one had foreseen the disasters that scuppered any faith in Labour’s ability to deliver: John Prescott, Hatfield, Railtrack, air traffic control and Stephen Byers.
The commission soon found itself caught in contradictions. Was it a government agency or an advisory body? Was it to make policy or to critique what was done? Professor David Begg, its first chairman, clearly sees his role as a fearless advocate, arguing the case for better public transport. His first report was sharply critical of the government record; his second — so far unpublished — is said to be devastating. The Transport Department, naturally, is embarrassed. So too are senior figures, such as the chairmen of the Strategic Rail Authority and the Highways Agency, who are members of the commission and see its criticism largely aimed at themselves.
The government solution, in keeping with the Byers principle of burying bad news, is to bring forward the “review” of the commission’s function. What this means, most members believe, is that it will be emasculated. The commission’s role may be declared superfluous; Professor Begg will be silenced; and the former policy co-ordinator will be shunted permanently into a siding.
There are two main reasons for Labour’s disillusion with its own creation. The first concerns policy. Professor Begg is an unabashed advocate of road tolls as the only way to curb chronic congestion. He believes that unless there is a real financial disincentive to driving, new roads alone will do nothing to relieve overcrowding, but will merely encourage greater use. For the Government, such talk is electoral dynamite. Tolls are one of the few areas where there is clear disagreement between Labour and the Conservatives, and there is every sign that the Tories will successfully focus on the threat of charges as a way of mobilising every motorist in Britain against Labour.
The second reason is the Government’s realisation that transport chaos is almost insoluble. Unless the sums spent on repairing decades of neglect are budget-breaking, almost nothing can be done even in the medium term to improve Britain’s dismal record. Mr Byers promised much, but was unable to deliver, and transport became a high-profile disaster zone. Alistair Darling’s brief has been to take the spotlight off transport, quietly drop many of the unreachable targets, back gently away from expensive plans to improve the roads or railways and settle for the more realisable aim of simply managing the system more efficiently. This may be politically more realistic; but it is a violation of Labour’s promises on taking office. Labour does not want to hear this message from its own agencies. And so it has resorted to the old and ever-reliable policy: shoot the messenger.
>>> Edited by Size Nine Elm on Friday 18th April 13:01
(Forwarded from the ABD mailing list, thanks to Paul Smith)
Beg to differ
Labour is stung by transport policy criticism
Labour came to power trumpeting a seamless approach to one of Britain’s most intractable issues, transport. John Prescott was to be the new supremo, uniting in his capacious new department — Transport, Environment and the Regions — and underlining this commitment to joined-up government with the creation of a Commission for Integrated Transport. Six years later, with ministers and policies succeeding each other with even more dizzy confusion than under the Conservatives, transport remains the most disintegrated, underfunded and chaotic issue on the government agenda. Spin took over from substance, promises from reality. And in a humiliating climb-down Labour has now apparently decided quietly to bury the CfIT.
The commission’s brief was tailor-made for an appealing manifesto: to bring together all the competing forms of transport so that the public had a viable alternative to the private car. New train and bus hubs would mesh, timetables would be co-ordinated, security, punctuality and service improved. It did not happen. No one appeared to have costed such grandiose proposals. No one knew precisely what the brief entailed. And no one had foreseen the disasters that scuppered any faith in Labour’s ability to deliver: John Prescott, Hatfield, Railtrack, air traffic control and Stephen Byers.
The commission soon found itself caught in contradictions. Was it a government agency or an advisory body? Was it to make policy or to critique what was done? Professor David Begg, its first chairman, clearly sees his role as a fearless advocate, arguing the case for better public transport. His first report was sharply critical of the government record; his second — so far unpublished — is said to be devastating. The Transport Department, naturally, is embarrassed. So too are senior figures, such as the chairmen of the Strategic Rail Authority and the Highways Agency, who are members of the commission and see its criticism largely aimed at themselves.
The government solution, in keeping with the Byers principle of burying bad news, is to bring forward the “review” of the commission’s function. What this means, most members believe, is that it will be emasculated. The commission’s role may be declared superfluous; Professor Begg will be silenced; and the former policy co-ordinator will be shunted permanently into a siding.
There are two main reasons for Labour’s disillusion with its own creation. The first concerns policy. Professor Begg is an unabashed advocate of road tolls as the only way to curb chronic congestion. He believes that unless there is a real financial disincentive to driving, new roads alone will do nothing to relieve overcrowding, but will merely encourage greater use. For the Government, such talk is electoral dynamite. Tolls are one of the few areas where there is clear disagreement between Labour and the Conservatives, and there is every sign that the Tories will successfully focus on the threat of charges as a way of mobilising every motorist in Britain against Labour.
The second reason is the Government’s realisation that transport chaos is almost insoluble. Unless the sums spent on repairing decades of neglect are budget-breaking, almost nothing can be done even in the medium term to improve Britain’s dismal record. Mr Byers promised much, but was unable to deliver, and transport became a high-profile disaster zone. Alistair Darling’s brief has been to take the spotlight off transport, quietly drop many of the unreachable targets, back gently away from expensive plans to improve the roads or railways and settle for the more realisable aim of simply managing the system more efficiently. This may be politically more realistic; but it is a violation of Labour’s promises on taking office. Labour does not want to hear this message from its own agencies. And so it has resorted to the old and ever-reliable policy: shoot the messenger.
>>> Edited by Size Nine Elm on Friday 18th April 13:01
Speed Matters | Motoring News | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff