It was our first policy forum during an informal dinner at Hale Barns. It was well attended and was a good discussion and debate. During the CPF consultation on The Future of Transportation, there were 20% of those who participated had not previously done so.
Thank you to everybody who let us know their views. This was the second in our series of three consultations looking beyond the short-term political horizon to the future.
Below is a snapshot of the top themes raised. A more detailed collation of responses has been sent to the Prime Minister’s Policy Unit, the Party Chairman and the CPF Chairman. As usual, we look forward to publishing a formal response to members’ ideas.
Overview of Top Themes
“The role of Government is to encourage and not over-regulate or set arbitrary targets.”
“Closer integration of rail and road is required to get freight off the road – electrification of rail is easier than electrification of the haulage industry.”
“Sustainability and carbon saving must be considered through the whole life cycle of a vehicle, from production to end of use.”
“Those who do not have access to digital technology must not be excluded.”
“The future construction of transport networks linking the North and South must begin construction in the North—and have both a ‘target’ and an ‘outcome’ built into its design.”
“People want control over their lives and the freedom to choose how and where to travel.”
“Stop imposing urban-based policy on rural communities.”
Over 40% of members called for simplifying planning as “so many of our transport-related issues are linked to the various over-regulated planning processes.”
Over 25% of members raised questions about how the insurance contract for autonomous vehicles would work.
CPF members want to see better-integrated transport with multimodal apps. Other specific proposals included:
Conduct a proper cost-benefit analysis of the backing of electric power.
Revisit MaaS (Mobility as a Service) Digital Transport Services to source and manage the provision of transport-related services, which meet the mobility needs of customers.
Revisit Total Transport to deliver integrated passenger transport services across health, school and local authority transport, saving up to £2bn/year.
Make bus and tram journeys free within a travel zone, paid for by £3.5bn per year saving from reduced bureaucracy in administering the many different fare systems.
Fund more R&D so that Britain leads the way and transport contributes to our economy, including biomass, hydrogen and synthetic-fuelled internal combustion engines.
Publish a long-term plan for the National Grid with achievable timelines that demonstrably show power availability to match the projected expansion of EV use.
Members believe it would be simpler and fairer to “equalise tax rates for petrol/diesel and for electricity” without delay, especially as “EVs are heavier and do more damage to roads.”
Require a standardised national specification for vehicle charging points.
Support domestic firms developing hydrogen-based and low carbon fuels, and electric aircraft, such as Lockheed Martin’s hybrid airship and Israel’s Eviation Alice.
Expand the Travel Training program to include the elderly.
All public transport should have concessionary free travel for pensioners and students.
Legislate public transport minimum service levels.
The End