§ Mr. HobanTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what assessment he has made of the cost of(a) preparing and (b) implementing local transport plans. [6267]
§ Ms KeebleThe introduction of local transport plans has been widely welcomed by local authorities. The Government expect that the move to five year plans, and the need to take a broader, more holistic view of planning transport in the context of related issues such as land use planning could produce cost savings and efficiency gains compared with the previous system of annual bidding.
Our Ten Year Plan for Transport provided a step change in investment for the implementation of local transport plans. Over the period of the Ten Year plan some £19.3 billion of capital resources are available. We announced in December 2000 an £8.4 billion package covering the first five years' of that investment.