Local Transport Bill 2007

Government Department: Transport

Liberal Democrat Spokesperson in the Commons: TBC
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson in the House of Lords: Lord Bradshaw

Government proposals

To support the Government's strategy to tackle road congestion and improve public transport by ensuring local authorities have the right powers to take local action to meet local transport needs.

The main elements of the Bill are:
· Giving local authorities the right mix (the Government’s words) of powers to improve the quality of local bus services;
· Giving local authorities in our major conurbations the power to review and propose their own arrangements for local transport governance, to support more coherent planning and delivery of local transport;
· Updating existing legal powers so that, where local areas wish to develop proposals for local road pricing schemes, they have the freedom and flexibility to do so in a way that best meets local needs.
· This Bill will begin its passage in the House of Lords. It was presented (gained its first reading) on Wednesday 7th November, and is scheduled to get its second reading in the Lords on Tuesday 20th November.

Liberal Democrat response

Greater powers over bus regulation in local areas must remain locally accountable. We have worries that the structural changes in the bill might undermine this, particularly the changes to the role of the traffic commissioners. Local authorities must have full freedom to choose how they manage bus services – that includes providing the services directly themselves, using the London model or other partnership arrangements. This level of flexibility does not appear to be in the bill.

We have concerns that the Government are forcing councils down the road of road pricing pilots, even where these are not the best option locally - simply because this is one of the only ways councils can get money for transport projects. They are effectively blackmailing councils into pilot projects. We would rather see a move to national pricing for lorries, as is already up and running in Germany and the Czech Republic.

On the issue of the Public Transport Users’ Committee for England, we are aiming to get the Minister to provide an undertaking that before they go ahead to setup the statutory users’ body they will try and breathe some life into the existing non-statutory body. Our point is that with little effort this can be made to work better and can save money.

We attempted to table an amendment to increase road safety at level crossings, but  it has been ruled that this is outside the scope of the Bill. However we will continue to press the Government on this issue.

Applicability (e.g. England)
The Bill's provisions extend to England and Wales (but with many variations in detail in Wales); a few reserved provisions also extend to Scotland. The Government will work with the devolved administrations on the responsibilities they have in this area.

Further Information
Lords Second Reading
Committee - 06/12/07 12/12/07 17/12/07
Progress of the Bill

Click here for the Government note on the Bill

(NB. Information on the stages a bill goes through to become an act of Parliament is available by following this link.)

Last updated 18/12/07