Local freedoms ‘could double’ returns on transport spending
Author: Dominic Browne, the MJ |
Government could more than double its return on transport investments if local authorities were given more freedom to drive projects ministers were told this week.
Think tank Localis’ report The case for greater local influence over transport, commissioned by the Local Government Association (LGA), claims locally developed schemes achieve 2.5 times the return on typical transport investments.
It also suggests the Highways Agency should be abolished and all local transport funding rolled up into a single pot to support a more integrated approach.
Local transport minister Norman Baker attended the launch of the report at the LGA’s Town Hall summit event 5 March. Council directors have also backed the call for a single pot for local transport cash. In ADEPT’s submission to the Institution of Civil Engineers’ annual state of the nation report on transport ? due to be published in June ? the directors’ association criticised interventions driven by ‘competing pots’ from different government departments.
‘The preference would be for a single pool of funding from which money can be drawn down to meet the priorities of an overarching plan,’ ADEPT’s documents states.
The calls echo Lord Heseltine’s growth report No stone unturned ? backed by chancellor George Osborne ? but senior ADEPT sources would prefer the pot to be allocated on a needs basis rather than the peers competitive bids process.
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