James Lancaster, Chair of the Urban Mobility Partnership, responds to the Spring Budget:
“As Chair of the Urban Mobility Partnership, I am pleased to see a focus on local leadership and levelling up transport in today’s budget. It is fantastic news that these measures will devolve power and funding to combined authorities to deliver integrated ticketing in these areas and this reflects a positive step forward in delivering multi-modal sustainable transport systems across the UK. The announcement of the extension of City Regions Sustainable Transport Settlements for a further 5 years is a good longer-term commitment that will help authorities in long-term planning and expanding sustainable transport provisions.
“Whilst these measures are welcome, this budget does come on the back of the disappointing news last week that the Active Travel England budget has been slashed. In order to achieve our air quality and modal shift targets set out in the Transport Decarbonisation Plan, the government must continue to look at ways to expand the active travel provision and public transport services, in order to enable people to make more sustainable travel choices and reduce the cost of public transport services.”
