§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make it his policy to provide a long-term integrated transport and environmental strategy after consultation with the Secretary of State for the Environment.
§ Mr. MacGregor[holding answer 24 May 1994]: "Sustainable Development: the UK Strategy", which was the result of detailed discussions between my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment and me, set out the principles by which the Government develop their transport policies. These include the following aims:
—To strike the right balance between the ability of transport to serve economic development and the ability to protect the environment and sustain further quality of life.—To provide for the economic and social needs for access with less need for travel.—To take measures which reduce the environmental impact of transport and influence the rate of traffic growth.—To ensure that users pay the full social and environmental cost of their transport decisions, so improving the overall efficiency of those decisions for the economy as a whole and bringing environmental benefits.We are pursuing a range of policies consistent with these aims.