Government and local councils in England are failing to take value-for-money steps proven to cut traffic and carbon emissions – despite the advice of the Government’s own expert advisor, a new report from Friends of the Earth and Sustrans shows today (Thursday 4 August 2011).

The research comes on the same day as the Government publishes new statistics showing that over the last year traffic has barely fallen and congestion has not improved, despite soaring fuel prices and recession causing many motorists to cut journeys.

The two charities say that to reduce traffic and carbon emissions from transport, councils should urgently increase their spending on greener travel and the Government should help by putting a duty on them to produce low-carbon strategies.

The report, written by built environment consultancy Halcrow, shows that only a tiny fraction of the £6 billion allocated to councils for Local Transport Plans is being spent on sustainable travel. This is despite specific recommendations by the Committee on Climate Change for a phased roll-out in towns and cities across the UK of Smarter Travel Choices – schemes that promote greener travel, including walking and cycling, public transport and car sharing.

Richard Dyer, Friends of the Earth’s transport campaigner, said: “Despite rising petrol prices and ongoing congestion problems, local councils are failing to deliver schemes proven to get more people out of cars and onto cleaner and healthier forms of transport.

“The Government must heed the advice of its own green adviser and ensure every local council plays its part by boosting their spending on schemes to get people walking, cycling and using public transport.

“Smarter Travel Choices are a win-win for councils and people – they are an easy and value-for-money way to cut congestion and emissions and protect people from rising petrol prices.”

Jason Torrance, Sustrans Policy Manager, said: “A greater proportion of existing budgets needs to be spent on enabling people to make smarter travel choices if carbon reduction targets are to be met and people’s quality of live is to be improved. Our experience is that there is a huge potential to transform the way that people are able to travel for their everyday journeys – all that is needed is the political leadership to spend existing budgets cost effectively.

“National government must ring-fence funding support within existing budgets to levels that brought about results in the Sustainable Travel Towns. And this must be followed up with evaluation of past LTPs to guide future cost-effective funding, something that is desperately lacking at the moment.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

1.    Information collected from 16 transport plans in urban and rural areas around the country found that an average of just 70p per head per year is being spent on the schemes, despite recent pilots on three towns that showed they successfully reduced car trips and emissions, increased journeys made by walking, cycling and bus, improved air quality and encouraged healthier lifestyles. The worst performing council of those researched, Warrington, is spending as little as 0.6 per cent of its local transport budget on STCs – less than three per cent of the investment levels of the pilot schemes. The best performing council, Stockton, is spending 5.3 per cent of its budget on STCs.

2.    Download the full report, executive summary, a fact sheet providing useful statistics on travel trends and carbon emissions, and quotations from the Coalition Government and Committee on Climate Change, from Friends of the Earth’s website.

3.    Three examples of varying levels of first year funding from LTP3 funds by local councils: 

WARRINGTON BOROUGH COUNCIL   

STC % of Total LTP3     0.6%

STC % Relative to STT 2.7%

STOCKTON COUNCIL       

STC % of Total LTP3     5.3%

STC % Relative to STT15.9%

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL           

STC % of Total LTP3     1.7%

STC % Relative to STT 11%

4.    The Government’s Sustainable Travel Town pilot schemes took place in Darlington, Peterborough and Worcester during 2004-2008, at a cost of £5.65 per head per annum. They saw car journeys fall by 9 per cent, bus trips rise by 10 – 22 per cent, and cycling trips rise by 26 – 30 per cent.

5.    In its 2009 report ‘Meeting Carbon Budgets – the need for a step change’, the Committee on Climate Change called for a “phased roll-out of Smarter Choices to cities and towns across the UK based on evidence from the Sustainable Travel Town pilots.”

6.    Quarterly statistics on traffic levels and congestion have been released today (4 August) by the Department for Transport.

7.    According to an analysis today (4 August) of Department for Transport figures by the AA, car trips have dropped by 4.3 per cent, with mileage down by 1.8 per cent on what it was two years ago. Earlier in the year Department for Energy and Climate Change figures showed that one billion fewer litres of petrol were bought in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2008.

8.    Friends of the Earth is calling on the Government to ask the Committee on Climate Change to provide councils with benchmark advice on cutting emissions in their local area, so that every council does its bit to ensure that the UK meets its national carbon budgets.