§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions for what reason he has abandoned plans to set targets for reductions in national road traffic levels. [128434]
§ Mr. HillThe Government have never promised that they would set a national road traffic reduction target; nor does the Road Traffic Reduction (National Targets) Act 1998 require us to do so, if we are satisfied that other measures or targets would be better for tackling the adverse effects of traffic. As we set out in "Tackling Congestion and Pollution", our first report under the 1998 Act, published in January, our targets and policies focus on improving the outcomes that matter to people, such as congestion, pollution and road safety, rather than national traffic volume figures.