'We may see the first campaigns encouraging people to drive less'
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4 ike most people who follow politics, it L
ca me as no surprise to me to learn that Brian Mawhinney had been moved on from the Department of Transport to take over as Conservative Party chairman. As an instrumental figure in John Major's re-election campaign it was inevitable he would move up the Party hierarchy if John Major won. Imagine my surprise when he was replaced by Sir George Young—a member of Ealing Friends of the Earth who I met for the first time only months ago on our annual sponsored bike ride! I must say that i was pleased. That said, Friends of the Earth is expecting no favours from Sir George. We are well aware that the Transport Secretary, like any other senior politician, has to balance a host of conflicting interests and keep a range of different groups happy if he is to survive in the job. We will have to demonstrate our researched argument and political muscle to Sir George in just the same way we had to with Brian Mawhinney, John MacGregor or any other of his predecessors. However, I do believe that Sir George's appointment suggests that the changes in emphasis made on key transport questions by Brian Mawhinney did not merely reflect his personal views. They mirror changes in thinking on transport policy through much of Government.
So, put simply, we expect to see from Sir George Young more of what we got from Brian Mawhinney. We expect to see further shifts in the balance of funds for local authorities from road building to traffic management with an emphasis to giving priority to certain users— buses, bicycles, pedestrians and perhaps some lorries. We expect to see yet more expensive, controversial, traffic-generating new trunk road schemes abandoned. I suspect that big motorway projects like the M62 relief road to the north of Manchester and the Western Orbital motorway around Birmingham to be top of the list to go. Instead we may see a new emphasis (but maybe no cash injected) on rail freight and especially intermodal investment, Britain has lagged behind our European partners in this area and risks losing out on Eurogrants as a result. The Piggyback projects to take lorries on the West Coast main line would be an obvious early favourite for Government promotion, I also suspect Sir George Young will be an enthusiastic ally of John Gummer in attacking out-of-town development, especially as Gummer will have to make any difficult decisions in this area. I guess we may see the first Government publicity campaigns encouraging people to drive less.
Most importantly though, if Sir George continues with Dr Mawhinney's "Great National Debate" (which he must) and if he produces a Green Paper on transport, Friends of the Earth will expect him to show signs of looking to the future. He must think about the forecast doubling of road traffic over the next 30 years and the effects that would have, not only on the natural environment, but also on people's quality of life. He must commit the Government to making sure that that forecast never takes place.