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Introduction
5.1 Travel Choices for Scotland recognised that transport is vital to the economic well-being of Scotland. Businesses depend on good transport infrastructure and services to give them access to labour, to their suppliers and to their customers. Good transport links offer national economic benefits through improved business efficiency. They can also contribute to the development of local economies. Impacts on the economy are therefore carefully considered in assessing the benefits of transport policies and schemes.
Trunk roads and the national economy
5.2 The UK and Scottish White Papers emphasise policies to promote public transport and other alternatives to the private car and to maximise the use of forms of transport other than road for freight. Chapter 1 referred to the potential significant increases in passenger numbers and freight movements on the rail network in Scotland. At present, however, road transport is the dominant mode, accounting for around 91 per cent of passenger transport (in passenger kilometres) and over six times as much freight as railways (in tonne kilometres). The present network of trunk roads, although only 7 per cent of the Scottish road network, is particularly important in this respect, carrying 32 per cent of motor traffic, including 40 per cent of goods vehicle traffic. For the foreseeable future the road network will continue to provide the core of our transport system. Given its wider objectives, the Executive will wish to consider how we use the network to best effect (on the lines suggested in Chapter 3 of this report). However, the Executive will ensure that the network is maintained, operated and improved so that it functions satisfactorily.
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Congestion - a burden on business |
5.3 Worsening congestion is a threat to the satisfactory functioning of the network. Delays and unpredictable journey times impose costs on road users and, in particular, on business and industry. While estimates vary, the costs of traffic congestion are substantial, amounting to billions of pounds each year at the UK level. Congestion is, of course, particularly evident during the morning and evening peak periods on routes where there is a substantial volume of car commuting. This is a factor which the appraisal method described in Chapter 7 takes into account, given the potential for public transport to make a significantly greater contribution to this type of travel. This potential has already influenced public transport investment decisions (see paragraph 1.8 above on the Public Transport Fund) and it will be an important point for consideration within any future multi modal corridor studies (see paragraph 7.11 below).
5.4 Investment in new road capacity can support the economy by reducing journey times and improving reliability. This can result in lower business costs and allow firms to adopt more efficient patterns of production. Better roads can improve people's access to jobs and to many other activities. In the appraisal of trunk road investment, these benefits to the economy are measured mainly through the time savings and improvements in reliability made possible by the project or policy proposed.
5.5 However, there are also significant costs associated with road building. Most obviously, new infrastructure is very expensive. In addition, it is now widely accepted that improved road links can, in some circumstances, generate traffic, which may offset the initial benefits from reduced congestion and create other harmful emissions such as carbon dioxide. Finally, new infrastructure can have other significant adverse impacts on the environment, eg on our landscape. There may be countervailing environmental advantages, however, as congestion and stop-start driving mean that engines are operating inefficiently and causing more pollution per mile than they would in free-flow conditions. Congestion also encourages motorists to find rat-runs, often on highly unsuitable local roads through towns and villages.
5.6 As part of its recent report on Transport and the Economy 6 , the Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Road Assessment (SACTRA) considered whether current assessment techniques adequately reflect the full economic impact of policies and projects. It concluded that well-specified cost-benefit analysis should generally provide a sufficiently good approximation of the total economic impacts of schemes, although in certain circumstances there may be additional economic benefits or costs. SACTRA suggested a number of incremental improvements to current appraisal practices. The Scottish Executive will be considering the implications of the SACTRA advice for future appraisal techniques in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions.
Helping areas needing regeneration
5.7 As well as supporting the national economy as a whole, transport provision is important to local economies, not least because it can influence business in deciding where to invest. There is scope for transport schemes to have important distributional effects, and the impact of schemes on the Executive's regeneration and social inclusion objectives should therefore be considered alongside their total economic benefits. The appraisal method set out in Chapter 7 aims to do this for the major trunk road schemes under review. However, it is important to stress that other transport initiatives, particularly in the public transport field, will also have an important part to play in delivering regeneration and social inclusion objectives. The potential for public transport to meet as much as possible of the transport needs arising from new development in regeneration areas and elsewhere must be fully explored at the planning stage.
5.8 In terms of the appraisal method, the effect of roads on regeneration is not straightforward, and the Executive accepts SACTRA's finding that there is no simple, unambiguous link between transport provision and local regeneration. SACTRA noted that "...there is no guarantee that transport improvements will benefit the local or regional economy at only one end of the route - roads operate in two directions, and in some circumstances the benefits will accrue to other, competing, regions." SACTRA suggested that improvements are needed to the methods used in local and regional economic impact studies so that the contribution of transport investment to regeneration can be assessed better in the future.
5.9 In the meantime, the Executive has been cautious in assessing the regeneration benefits of its investment programme. A relatively simple categorisation process was used in the appraisal method to assess the scope for schemes to help induce additional economic activity in regeneration priority areas. While these improvements alone will not necessarily improve the economy of these areas, when supported by other initiatives targeted investment can produce results.
Impact of developments on the trunk road network
5.10 In planning a sustainable transport system, it is important to take account of the fact that economic development can have a major impact on the transport network. For example, developments that generate additional traffic on congested roads can lead to significant environmental and economic costs. The Scottish Executive will, therefore, wish to work with businesses and planning authorities to identify ways in which the traffic generating impact of new economic development can be minimised. Particularly important will be the location of businesses in places which can be readily supported by attractive, high quality public transport.
5.11 Planning authorities are required to consult the Scottish Executive in specified circumstances where proposed developments may have an effect on traffic on or entering a trunk road. Around 600 planning applications are received each year, of which about 10% have a significant impact requiring assessment of their transport implications. Such transport assessments may result in developers being required to invest in road or other transport infrastructure, support public transport services or take other action through Green Transport Plans to mitigate the effect of their development on trunk road traffic. In many cases a combination of such measures may be appropriate. In drawing up mitigation schemes, the guiding principles will be Government transport policies generally and the more detailed advice in NPPG 17 7 and PAN 57 8 . In addition, the Executive is working with the business community to produce best practice advice on promoting Green Transport Plans.
5.12 There is a need to provide further advice to Planning Authorities and developers on procedural and technical matters, and guidelines are currently being drafted. These will include advice on the general requirements for different classes of trunk road and more specific standards to be adopted on particular routes. The characteristics of individual routes and sections will be taken into account. For example, on some heavily trafficked urban roads, where mitigation is impractical, no development which introduces additional traffic will be permitted.
5.13 The publication of these guidelines will not only help Planning Authorities and developers to know what to expect in the way of trunk road requirements, but will form a consistent basis from which to argue the Executive's case at Public Local Inquiries.
5.14 The consistent application of such development control measures can make a significant contribution to the realisation of the Executive's transport policies in the longer term
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