The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) has joined the growing calls for a national transport strategy for England and made five key recommendations for the plan.
Launching an English strategy would bring the country into line with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which all have their own.
A lack of clear strategy is 'impeding progress towards wider objectives like reaching net zero and addressing economic disparity,' the ICE said.
The news comes after an ICE consultation with transport professionals, industry and civil society bodies, and sees the professional body join private sector contractors under the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) in arguing for a national strategy.
The ICE recommendations include:
- A national transport strategy for England should set out an overarching vision of a sustainable transport network.
- The strategy needs to establish a set of principles derived from its overarching vision that enable prioritisation of transport projects.
- The strategy should clarify the roles and responsibilities required of key stakeholders to deliver its overarching vision.
- A strategy has to be a long-term process which is agile and manages uncertainty.
- A future review should assess whether a UK-wide strategy is needed and how it could be developed.
Jonathan Spruce, ICE Trustee for policy and external affairs said: ‘It’s rare to hear such agreement from the transport sector, but respondents to the Institution of Civil Engineers’ consultation were clear; we need to plan transport differently.
‘To meet England’s environmental, social, and economic objectives, government needs to define desired outcomes and commit at the highest level to seeing plans through.'
An English strategy would help tackle challenges including siloed thinking, long-term funding uncertainty and a lack of integration with other core policy areas such as energy, the ICE said.
It also highlighted that the call coincides with the Transport Select Committee announcing a new inquiry on Strategic transport objectives.
Addressing the issue of why it should be an English and not UK-wide strategy, the ICE said some transport planning questions such as how to decarbonise air travel are best tackled at a UK-wide level but 'an English strategy, particularly focused on rail and road infrastructure, is a pragmatic first step'.
Mr Spruce said: 'The whole UK will need to work together to answer questions like how air and maritime transport should evolve. To that end, the Government should publish a response to the Union Connectivity Review as soon as possible.'
