Integrated Transport Policy (Hansard, 5 June 1997)

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for the Environment and Transport (Baroness Hayman)

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions has today launched a fundamental review of transport policy to provide an integrated transport system which meets the environmental and transport needs of all regions of the country for today and the future. The review will look at both the short term and the longer term actions that are necessary to deliver an integrated system.

The review will encompass the key areas of transport and examine transport's relationship with the economy in general and with the many environmental issues which surround it. The review will be overseen by a ministerial team drawn from both the Transport and the Environment Departments and chaired by my right honourable friend the Minister for Transport. My right honourable friends are determined that this review will be conducted in an open and consultative way which will provide opportunity for those with an interest in transport to input their views to the process, and wherever possible, become directly involved in the development of policy.

Our aim is to publish a long-term strategy White Paper next spring which will provide a sustainable framework for decision-making during the remainder of this Parliament, the next and the years beyond that. Critically, it will set interim objectives for the remainder of this Parliament against which to judge our progress. Publication of the White Paper will mark the completion of the initial analytical, goal-setting and consultation phase in the development of an integrated transport 47WA policy. But there will then be a rolling programme of action, involving both central and local government, transport operators and others across all regions to make that policy a reality.