§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if it is his policy to secure a reduction in road traffic levels over the next three years. [57710]
§ Ms Glenda JacksonThe Government made clear in the recent White Paper "A New Deal for Transport: Better for Everyone" that, in order to tackle the congestion and pollution that is caused by road traffic, we need to reduce the rate of road traffic growth. We also said that we want to see an absolute reduction in traffic in those places and streets where the greatest environmental damage is done. The White Paper set out how we plan to achieve these objectives through integrated transport policies acting at the national and local level.
The first reports contained assessments of how, and over what time scale, our policies are expected to impact on road traffic will be produced during 1999. The Road Traffic Reduction Act 1997 obliges each local traffic authority to produce a report assessing existing and forecast levels of traffic on those roads for which it is the highway authority, and the results of its consideration of whether or not to set targets for road traffic reduction on 459W local roads in its area. We expect local authorities to submit the first, non-statutory interim, reports in July 1999 as part of their provisional local transport plans. In the light of these interim reports and plans, analysis of the impact of other measures we are proposing on road traffic, and advice from the independent Commission for Integrated Transport which we will be setting up, we will produce our first report under the Road Traffic Reduction (National Targets) Act 1998 on the question of national targets for road traffic reduction by the end of 1999.