Statement from Mayor Dave Hodgson, chair of the Strategic Transport Forum, following publication of the Department for Transport's Transport Decarbonisation Plan.
England’s Economic Heartland welcomes the publication of the Government’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan. EEH is leading the way in setting the ambitions for transport decarbonisation in our region and through the TDP, we are starting to see how some of these can be realised.
There is more to do, and we will continue to work with the Government to deliver not only the ambitions of the Transport Decarbonisation Plan but of all the policy requirements of our transport strategy.
The TDP’s world-leading targets for the decarbonisation of vehicles across all modes are a major step forwards, though we welcome the plan’s recognition that this alone will not be enough to reach net-zero or indeed achieve the best outcomes for our places.
The plan’s priorities reflect those in EEH’s transport strategy, including its ambition to make sustainable and public transport the first choice wherever possible, and increasing opportunities for rail freight.
We welcome the plan’s acknowledgement that different places require different solutions and, moreover, that decarbonisation provides an excellent opportunity to improve places, reduce congestion and create exciting new opportunities for the economy.
The plan rightly sets out the role of local and regional leadership and specifically sub-national transport bodies in working with Government to help shape the programmes, funding and delivery mechanisms required to achieve transport decarbonisation.
EEH and other STBs are helping Government and local authority partners to plan what is required to deliver net-zero in our regions. This includes firm, nationally led, regionally delivered targets and solutions for increasing uptake of sustainable modes and reducing the number of cars on our roads.
EEH’s work on a decarbonisation roadmap for the region will help provide the evidence base to inform this. It also means investment in the right transport infrastructure, with improvements aligned with digital and energy infrastructure. We’re ideally positioned to help drive this forward.