City-regions eye transport powers

Herpreet Kaur Grewal, Regeneration & Renewal, 25 May 2007

Groups of councils in major urban areas should be allowed to manage roads and oversee privately-run bus services across local authority boundaries, says the Department for Transport's draft transport bill.

These arrangements would allow councils to plan for local transport provision across whole conurbations such as Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire and Merseyside, it says.

David Wood, chair of the group of six passenger transport authorities (PTAs), which operate in England's major metropolitan areas, said he welcomed the plans to devolve more powers to city-regions.

"This bill should give us more of the powers we need to tackle traffic congestion, to plan and regulate better bus networks, and to deliver bus priority schemes," he said.

The bill proposes giving councils and PTAs more control over local bus timetabling, but it stops short of the full-scale bus regulation in operation in London.

It also contains proposals that cash raised from new congestion charging schemes will be permanently ringfenced for public transport. Under current legislation, it is ringfenced for only ten years.

Transport secretary Douglas Alexander said: "Improving public transport is vital if we are going to tackle congestion and climate change. Two-thirds of public transport journeys are made by bus, so it is only right that this bill focuses on how we improve bus services.

"The (bill) will give councils the powers they need to ensure that local bus services meet local needs as part of a broader package which will give them the flexibility they need to tackle congestion."

The news comes as Greater Manchester is poised to reveal details of its congestion charging plan. The city-region, made up of ten boroughs, was due to reveal full details after Regeneration & Renewal went to press.

But Lord Smith, chair of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, told Regeneration & Renewal that the charge - coupled with cash from the Government's Transport Innovation Fund - would pump £2.5 billion into urban transit over a six-year period.

- The bill is available via www.regen.net/doc.