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Building a Sustainable Scotland: Sustainable Development and the Spending Review 2002
TRANSPORT
To promote economic growth, social inclusion and sustainable development via a safe, integrated, effective and efficient transport system
A central objective is to support sustainable development by promoting more efficient transport networks and more sustainable modes of transport, having regard to the overarching principles of minimising resource use, energy and travel. Transport provides services which benefit all, but our bus and rail programmes especially are intended to enable every section of the public to enjoy good access to jobs, recreation, services and shopping. Given that more than half the population of Scotland regards public transport as its main mode of travel, these services are key to our commitment to Social Justice and our view of sustainable development expressed in
Meeting the Needs...
An overarching objective of the Transport Delivery Report,
Scotland's Transport: Delivering Improvements, is traffic stabilisation over the next 20 years. This is an ambitious target which alone would transform the sustainability of Scotland; reducing the growth in fossil fuels required; helping to meet our existing commitments on emissions of greenhouse gases; and reducing air pollution. If that objective can be achieved by providing a high quality public transport system that meets the needs of most, if not all, travellers we bring benefits to the economy as a whole. This is one of the four key indicators in
Meeting the Needs... around which the whole transport programme is built. The others are about transfer of freight from the roads; journeys made without the car and accessibility of services.
The major programmes - such as the Edinburgh trams, the new rail franchise and the improvements to rail services and lines will all reduce the impact on resource use and contribute to the travel objective of
Meeting the Needs... - in which intelligent location of work, home and play and the means of travel between them are important features of sustainable development.
All transport spending takes explicit account of the impact on the environment and energy use, with all new projects having to go through the STAG process (based on the
Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance). This process explicitly considers the environmental benefits and disbenefits of any proposed transport intervention. Environmental costs will therefore weigh heavily against any schemes that are not sensitive to their impact on the environment. This means that new projects funded through the Integrated Transport Fund, and other programmes, will have had a rigorous environmental assessment. Roads projects too are carefully assessed for their environmental impact and steps are being taken to improve the sustainability of construction and maintenance methods. Most new works leads to an overall benefit to the environment by reducing congestion and associated greenhouse gas emissions, while also relieving communities of the noise and pollution that high traffic levels can produce.
Rural communities benefit from our approach based on sustainable development by the provision of lifeline connections by air, ferry and the improvement of rural roads - with the Route Action Plans offering an integrated approach to securing the gains made.
These outcomes are not achieved by spend on new projects alone. We need to change the attitude of the public to how they travel. Walking to work and school, and using electronic delivery of services rather than driving to the shop or bank are all part of this. Our successful Travel Awareness Campaign is closely linked to the aim of tackling urban and inter-urban congestion and encouraging modal shift in support of sustainable development. Other related proposals on school travel co-ordinators aim to tackle the "school run" and reduce congestion during the morning peak.
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