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Local Transport

I do not. The record investment levels that we have set in government are being sustained. For smaller schemes, we have announced year-on-year increases for the next four years. Local authorities receive that funding as a block grant to enable them to identify and fund local priorities, with the level of funding for an area reflecting pressures and the Department’s overall assessments of the local transport plans—I hope that that has set the record straight on funding. For larger schemes, decisions are made in the light of advice from the particular region and are met by either the regional funding allocation or, potentially, the transport innovation fund. The regional funding allocations increase year on year over the 10-year guideline period. I therefore find it difficult to recognise the reference to the Government imposing their will and refusing to fund, which is clearly not the case. On top of that, the transport innovation fund will provide substantial extra resources to those local authorities interested in addressing local congestion problems through innovative demand management responses. We are working with local authorities to develop local transport plans further, as the Committee wanted us to. I am happy to report that the Department and local authority officials are working together on how progress on delivering plans should be reviewed in future. The hon. Member for Wimbledon (Stephen Hammond) correctly reported our national priorities for local transport plans as tackling congestion, dealing with road safety, undertaking accessibility planning, and tackling air quality hotspots. However, contrary to what he said, those were all agreed with the Local Government Association. As that is Conservative led, I find it difficult to recognise the allegation that those priorities were imposed. My hon. Friend the Member for Crewe and Nantwich called for improved guidance. The Department issued final guidance on the second local transport plan 16 months before the final deadline for the completion of the plan. We recognise the need for local authorities, including those participating on joint plans, which we encourage, to have enough time to draft and approve their plans, and in future we will endeavour to publish guidance about plans even further in advance. We are here to support local authorities, not in any way to make life difficult for them. The Department is committed to enabling them to present local priorities within local transport plans, and the criteria are widely advertised and well known. There will be an assessment of the coherence of plans as a whole. People sometimes draw an artificial distinction on priorities, but these are common priorities locally and nationally. We are keen that local authorities find the right answers for their local areas and that we assist them in doing so. I wish to re-emphasise that we are working very closely with local authority officials to improve the manner of assessments. Reference was made to the possibility of increasing the threshold of the scheme to £10 million. Views have been put to us on that, although they are somewhat mixed. We gather that there is now a consultation on the regional funding allocations. It is worth saying that increasing the limit would reduce the ability of authorities to apply for extra funding for schemes, and that must be taken into account. Nevertheless, we are considering the matters that have been raised with us. The hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr. Carmichael) referred several times to a lack of boldness. I was reminded that it was once said that we are at our best when we are at our boldest. That is indeed the case when it comes to transport. As my hon. Friend the Member for Crewe and Nantwich said, the national concessionary fares scheme is extremely popular. The Government are extremely proud of it. From April next year, we will provide about £1 billion a year to fund concessionary travel, which we believe will be sufficient to ensure its roll-out. We do, however, recognise that local authorities have concerns about the distribution of funding. We are therefore considering several options in conjunction with local authorities, other stakeholders and users to find the right way forward for the roll-out of the scheme, which will benefit some 11 million pensioners and disabled people throughout the country.