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The Scottish Executive: Draft Budget 2004-05 Summary

Chapter 9 Transport

To promote economic growth, social inclusion and sustainable development via a safe, integrated, effective and efficient transport system.

OBJECTIVES AND TARGETS

Objective 1: To promote economic growth by enhancing the effectiveness of the transport network and reducing congestion.

• Target 1: To reduce the time taken to undertake trunk road journeys on congested or heavily trafficked sections of the network by 2006.
• Target 2: To achieve best value for money by reducing the proportion of the trunk road network that requires close monitoring to 6% for motorways and 8% for dual carriageways by 2006.

Objective 2: To promote social inclusion by improving access to public transport and by maintaining and enhancing the lifeline links.

• Target 3: Traveline Scotland to answer at least 1 million enquiries per annum by 2006; Transport Direct portal to achieve at least 1.5 million visits per annum by 2006; and for performance and output standards to be met.
• Target 4: To increase passenger numbers passing through Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd by 5% by 2006.
• Target 5: To increase the quality and quantity of lifeline ferry services and ensure that 98% of planned sailings actually sail and that 98% arrive on time by 2006.

Objective 3: 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.

• Target 6: To increase rail passenger journeys on the Scottish rail network by a further 5% by 2006.
• Target 7: To increase local bus journeys by 5% by 2006.

Objective 4: To improve road safety and reduce road accident casualties.

• Target 8: To reduce the number of serious and fatal road accident casualties by 40% by 2010 and by 50% for children over the same period, compared with the 1994-98 annual averages.

Additional targets

• Target 9: As an addition to the "Programme for Government" target of transferring 18 million lorry miles per year on to rail and water by March 2002, to make freight facility grant scheme awards that will transfer a further 3 million lorry miles per year by March 2003 and an additional 4 million lorry miles per year by March 2006 (bringing the total to 25 million lorry miles per year).
• Target 10: To take forward the tendering of contracts for ferry services in line with set timetables.

Spending plans 2003-06

Table 9.01 Spending plans (level 2)

Notes

¹ Motorways and trunk roads line includes depreciation charges (classed as DEL) and cost of capital (classed as AME). The split between DEL and AME is as follows:

Table 9.02 Split between DEL and AME for motorways and trunk roads

What the budget does

The budget covers capital and depreciation charges levied against the existing trunk and motorway network as well as supporting a programme of investment expenditure. The programme covers a wide variety of transport functions and modes, including roads, shipping, air, bus and rail.

Portfolio priorities

The swift, safe and efficient movement of goods and people is essential to the economic and social well-being of Scotland. In 2004-05 we will focus our resources on the following:

• increasing capacity and services on the rail network in Scotland - encouraging more use of sustainable transport;
• opening up direct access to the rail network for business and to travellers from Scotland's airports - providing the transport links that the economy needs;
• developing an effective, modern, 21st century public transport system for Edinburgh, worthy of a capital city;
• addressing the concerns of business and the wider community in and around Aberdeen by fixing Aberdeen's congestion - stimulating the local economy, strengthening the community;
• tackling inter-urban congestion in central Scotland - providing sustainable transport links;
• accessing economic benefits by opening up the Borders area - helping to sustain rural communities and provide better access to services;
• encouraging the use of buses by more of the Scottish population and tackling social exclusion;
• providing travellers with access to customised information - better quality, more accessible services; and
• making it easier to use public transport in Scotland, helping the vulnerable and disadvantaged to make full use of public transport and reach key services.

New resources

"A Partnership for a Better Scotland" makes new transport commitments for which additional funding has been allocated. Many of these commitments are under development. In particular, a new programme of road safety work to enable 20mph zones around schools and new Home Zones to be implemented is provided for from 2003-04.

Closing the opportunity gap

Transport closes the opportunity gap in two main ways. We are working towards providing:

• wide access to good public transport services for the significant proportion of the Scottish population for which public transport is the main or sole mode of transport; and
• good access by road and ferry to the remoter parts of Scotland which would otherwise suffer disadvantage compared to more populated areas.

The key programmes are as follows:

• Integrated Transport Fund;
• concessionary fares;
• subsidised local bus services;
• rural transport measures - supporting rural community transport schemes and other services
• in rural areas;
• public transport information;
• Bus Service Operators Grant;
• Caledonian MacBrayne;
• other ferry services;
• piers and harbours;
• rail services; and
• road safety.

These programmes support a huge range of work across many agencies, such as local authorities, Strathclyde Passenger Transport and operators of services.

Sustainable development

A central objective is to support sustainable development by promoting more efficient transport networks and more sustainable modes of transport, having regard to the principles of minimising resource use, energy and travel. An 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.

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. 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. This means that new projects will have 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.

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