14 March 2003
Suspicions among council highways and transport officers that their budgets are being plundered by education and social services colleagues have been reinforced by the Commission for Integrated Transport.
The commission, set up to advise the government on the implementation of the integrated transport white paper, found that 62% of transport department heads believed cash was being diverted into schools and social care.
Commission chair Professor David Begg said: 'I am extremely concerned that money allocated for transport is not being spent.'
The commission's Local authority survey found other barriers to delivering integrated transport projects, including skill shortages, lack of political will, inappropriate performance indicators and short-termism engendered by annual elections.
One major hurdle was public hostility to restrictions on car use. This has led to councillors preferring road safety schemes which, although worthwhile, do nothing to encourage a shift from private to public transport.
Annual performance reviews also encourage distortion of resources, with smaller but less effective schemes preferred to long-term ones to give an impression of progress, the report said.
'Local politicians need to be brave and decisive,' Begg said. 'They need to drive forward new projects, confident in the knowledge that the public will soon recognise and appreciate the benefits.'
But the commission found that annual elections allow too little time for transport policies to be agreed and implemented before councillors once again face voters and shrink from controversy.
Despite the early apparent success of the London congestion charge, for example, only 35 councils plan to emulate this. 'Responsibility for tackling congestion at the local level has effectively been placed in the hands of decision-makers who do not believe they can achieve this,' the report noted.
Further problems result from the government's ten-year Transport Plan being perceived as in conflict with the integrated transport white paper, which puts more emphasis on sustainability.
Targets in the ten-year plan were widely seen as unrealistic and irrelevant.
PFmar2003
