Philip Hammond MP, is the new Secretary of State for Transport and starts his term of office with pledges to end the ‘war on motorists’ while putting greater pressure on transport project developers to deliver better value for money.
These bold pledges are reported by the Telegraph who stress the end of UK policy trends over recent years that many see as a ceaseless drive to constrain private vehicle use and increase the scale and scope of charging schemes and motoring taxes. And whatever the merits may be of prevailing emphasis on such constraints it flies in the face of the harsh facts of transport life in Britain. Private vehicles in the UK facilitate over 75% of all passenger transport and a similarly large proportion of moving the freight and goods on which the nation’s health and economy depend. Anyway, the Independent goes in a similar direction to the Telegraph here, but also points out that Transport seems an obvious target for cuts.
Speaking for the motorists, Edmund King of the the AA welcomes the new minister but also makes a plea for greater coherence in policy development by asking that the new government supremo stays in post for longer than the recent succession of predecessors. This point is well made and one that many transport professionals would heartily endorse. A more sceptical response to the pledges about the new direction for future developments is aired at pistonheads.com. They ask a simple question. Will the Tories live up to pledges to reverse previous emphasis on speed cameras and government enthusiasm for spreading average speed camera systems throughout the UK?
Meanwhile, the Mirror emphasises that the change in leadership of the transport ministry puts a final nail in the coffin of proposals for a third runway at London’s Heathrow airport. But I am not alone in thinking that this is not a reliable assumption for the longer term.
In the context of rail, in London at least, the Evening Standard stresses that the new minister has vowed to finish Crossrail. My view on all this so far is based on limited evidence of what our new minister has to offer in the transport policy field. However, my sources tell me that Philip Hammond is unquestionably bright – and by all accounts so far, as good an egg as we could hope for in these challenging times. Even the Guardian describes him as an “Intelligent picador” As ever, we will all just have to wait and see…