SC(3) CR-T3
Sustainability Committee
Inquiry into Carbon Reduction in Wales: Carbon Reduction by Transport
Response from Cardiff Council
Questions specific to transport emissions of carbon dioxide.
3. What particular challenges does Wales face in reducing carbon dioxide emissions from transport, and how can these challenges be overcome?
The key challenge for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from transport in Wales is to reduce inappropriate and unnecessary car use. Traffic in Cardiff is forecast to grow by 7% - 10% over the next 5 years. This is higher than the average for Great Britain. In Cardiff, air and car travel account for 95% of the City’s ecological impact and the average resident travels over 15 miles a day by car. (1)
Many factors have contributed towards traffic growth in Cardiff including rises in travel demand, car ownership, numbers of drivers, economic activity and Cardiff’s rising population and visitor numbers. Reduced car occupancy and the increased spread of new development can also contribute to the problem. Car use has also increased as disposable income has risen against a background of a fall in the cost of motoring compared with rising costs of public transport.
The main cause of congestion is the choices people make about where and when they use their cars to travel. Other causes include lack of spare capacity on roads at junctions and interchanges and illegally parked vehicles blocking the highway.
Road traffic is also a major source of pollution that harms both air quality and health. Long term exposure to air pollutants has been linked to serious health problems including heart disease, cancer risks and respiratory diseases in adults and children, such as asthma.
The challenge can only be met by investment in developing and promoting real and attractive alternatives to car use and by managing both the network and demand for travel, by:
Widening Travel Choices - ensuring that a range of range of real and attractive travel options are available for most trips and that people know about them. Examples include promoting wider travel choices; improvements to the content, provision, accessibility and promotion of travel information; provision of transport improvements to encourage car share, and use of public transport, cycling and walking; promotion of travel planning; promotion of sustainable freight travel; reduction in the cost of public transport; and, provision of new roads and improvements to existing roads where these can provide public transport and congestion benefits.
Demand Management - reducing the demand for travel overall and restraining the use of the car, where appropriate. Examples include improved integration with land use planning; reducing the level of private non-residential parking; reducing levels of residents parking; parking price and restraint measures; introduction of road user charging and, encouraging home/teleworking.
Network Management - making best use of the existing network and improving facilities and accessibility for all modes of travel, in particular, for alternatives to the car. Examples include: effective design and maintenance of streets, highways and public transport infrastructure and other infrastructure; introduction of civil parking enforcement; and, improving traffic and travel management measures, including Intelligent Transport Systems.
4. Do the current transport policies of the Welsh Assembly Government give sufficient emphasis to carbon reduction?
If WAG is serious about reducing congestion, tackling climate change and air quality etc. then we need a suite of transport strategy measures that encompass the full range of measures aimed at reducing the demand for travel, and not simply the need to travel.(2)
Research findings are making it increasingly clear that technology will not deliver the necessary reductions in transport emissions and that nothing short of a huge change in how we travel is needed to halt current trends. As such, Cardiff Council feel that there is no room for flexibility on this issue - climate change is a global problem, rather than a regional one, and needs to be tackled head on by all four consortia in Wales, with WAG taking a much stronger lead. Measures to tackle climate change should be at the heart of the Wales Transport Strategy. The WTS is far too weak on this issue, simply stating that 'we need to try to reduce the trend of ever-increasing levels of travel, particularly by car’ (p.23).
It is accepted that congestion and air quality problems experienced by each of the consortia probably differ so much in scale that WAG need to be flexible in their approach. The WTS already reports that traffic growth in Wales has exceeded that for the rest of the UK. This again, highlights the need for more emphasis on the need to reduce the demand for travel.
There needs to be a much stronger focus on travel awareness campaigns aimed at improving the general public understanding of both the problems caused by traffic growth and the need for more sustainable travel. They are a powerful tool in helping to solve transport problems and, importantly, in preparing people for change and making them more receptive to initiatives for sustainable transport and road user charging.
5. To what extent has the Welsh Assembly Government been successful in utilising the powers available to it, in order to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from transport?
Lack of investment, particularly in public transport, walking and cycling has limited the Assembly’s ability to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from transport. Cardiff Council has estimated the level of investment required in infrastructure and public transport in Cardiff alone to be of the order of £400-500 million. Transportation accounts for just over 5% of the WAG budget; but once expenditure on the improvement and maintenance of the trunk road network is excluded, the funding available drops to less than 1% of the total.(3) This manifests itself in the Transport Grant allocations for the current financial year - some £100 million for the whole of Wales and only £3.55 million for Cardiff: A new, more focussed and keenly prioritised approach to transport in Wales is required.
6. Could alternative targeting of Welsh Assembly Government financial resources lead to greater reductions in transport emissions than is currently being achieved? If so, where could additional resources lead to greatest impact? (Please provide detail to support your evidence).
Sustained investment in Smarter Choices could make major impacts on congestion. The Future of Transport: A network for 2030 (2004) states that individual marketing pilots (private sector techniques encouraging people to travel by alternatives modes to the car) delivered reductions in car use of 7 - 15% in urban areas and 2 - 6% in smaller urban/rural areas. In addition, research indicates that each £1 spent on soft measures could produce benefits of about £10 on average, and considerably more in congested conditions. Inclusion of values for potentially positive effects on safety, health or the environment would further increase the value for money.(4)
7. What examples from other administrations (devolved, UK and overseas), where other means have been used to achieve reductions in transport carbon dioxide emissions, could be adopted in Wales under current powers?
The London charging scheme has led to a reduction in congestion of around 30% and a 19% reduction in CO2 emissions as a consequence of modal shift (5) and whilst a range of policy options need to be explored, it is outcomes of this magnitude that the Assembly needs to aspire to if the commitment to a 60% reduction in CO2 emissions from by 2050 is to be achievable.
Cardiff and South East Wales needs to position itself appropriately to secure maximum benefits from the introduction of road user charging pilot programmes as a precursor to a national scheme, including potentially significant investment in service centres (which could be located in adjacent, more deprived parts of the region), associated traffic management and Smartcard service technology. For this to be achievable, the Assembly needs to put in place the appropriate secondary legislation. It is our understanding that work is continuing on putting the necessary measures in place.
The safety and security of walking and cycling needs to be tackled: more action needs to be taken on toughening up the law, enforcement and penalties in relation to dangerous driving. Road Peace (www.roadpeace.org) has called for an economic incentive for drivers to drive defensively and be more proactive in avoiding collisions with cyclists and pedestrians. In addition, cyclists need to be given proper sanction within road space.
References:
(1) Cardiff’s Ecological Footprint (Cardiff Council, BRASS Research Centre, Cardiff University and WWF Cymru – September 2005)
(2)Consultation Draft Wales Transport Strategy, July 2006
(3) A Budget for the Future of Wales - The Assembly Government Spending Plans 2005/06 to 2007/08
(4)Cairns S, Sloman L, Newson C, Anable J, Kirkbride A & Goodwin P (2004) Conclusions ‘
Smarter Choices – Changing the Way We Travel’
(5) Wales Transport Strategy – Connecting Wales, Consultation Draft (WAG July 2006)
