By Paul Dicken
23 July 2009
Improvements to transport links between England and Wales are being held up by a lack of co-operation between central government and councils, MPs have said.
The Welsh affairs select committee in Westminster said co-operation on transport policy was based on goodwill, which could cause problems over funding, land use and determining priorities for different local authorities.
The committee also criticised the failure to predict increased passenger numbers on trains, insufficient rolling stock and high peak fares.
Committee chair Hywel Francis said: ‘If people are going to be persuaded to leave their cars at home and take public transport, then the services they use must be up to scratch.’
Francis said the Department for Transport, the Welsh Assembly Government and local authorities on both sides of the border should review priorities and ensure closer working so service improvements were implemented as soon as possible.
The committee called for the electrification of the train line between South Wales and London.
It also called for the removal of anomalies between the English and Welsh bus pass systems.
The report, published on July 17, came after the WAG launched its first National Transport Plan for consultation.
Publishing the plan on July 15, deputy first minister Ieuan Wyn Jones announced that a planned relief road on the M4 near Newport would be scrapped as costs were ‘prohibitive’.
Instead, measures were outlined to ease congestion, including improvements at junctions, more train stations and park and ride facilities in southeast Wales.
Jones said the WAG was ‘committed to reducing congestion, restoring capacity, reliability and improving safety’ on the east/west corridor in a financially and environmentally sustainable way.
The National Transport Plan, which seeks to improve transport links and services along a ‘less carbon-intensive path’, included a proposal to introduce a Welsh Transport Entitlement card for bus and rail services to allow seamless transfer between operators. It also proposed the creation of park and ride sites to act as ‘multi-modal interchanges’ for public transport networks.
Jones said legislative changes meant the WAG was now able to ‘weave together the patchwork of transport provision across the nation, from roads to railways, and buses to bicycles’.
23 July 2009
Improvements to transport links between England and Wales are being held up by a lack of co-operation between central government and councils, MPs have said.
The Welsh affairs select committee in Westminster said co-operation on transport policy was based on goodwill, which could cause problems over funding, land use and determining priorities for different local authorities.
The committee also criticised the failure to predict increased passenger numbers on trains, insufficient rolling stock and high peak fares.
Committee chair Hywel Francis said: ‘If people are going to be persuaded to leave their cars at home and take public transport, then the services they use must be up to scratch.’
Francis said the Department for Transport, the Welsh Assembly Government and local authorities on both sides of the border should review priorities and ensure closer working so service improvements were implemented as soon as possible.
The committee called for the electrification of the train line between South Wales and London.
It also called for the removal of anomalies between the English and Welsh bus pass systems.
The report, published on July 17, came after the WAG launched its first National Transport Plan for consultation.
Publishing the plan on July 15, deputy first minister Ieuan Wyn Jones announced that a planned relief road on the M4 near Newport would be scrapped as costs were ‘prohibitive’.
Instead, measures were outlined to ease congestion, including improvements at junctions, more train stations and park and ride facilities in southeast Wales.
Jones said the WAG was ‘committed to reducing congestion, restoring capacity, reliability and improving safety’ on the east/west corridor in a financially and environmentally sustainable way.
The National Transport Plan, which seeks to improve transport links and services along a ‘less carbon-intensive path’, included a proposal to introduce a Welsh Transport Entitlement card for bus and rail services to allow seamless transfer between operators. It also proposed the creation of park and ride sites to act as ‘multi-modal interchanges’ for public transport networks.
Jones said legislative changes meant the WAG was now able to ‘weave together the patchwork of transport provision across the nation, from roads to railways, and buses to bicycles’.
