Some aspects of the last government’s Plan for Drivers 'will persist', a top Department for Transport (DfT) official has said, as the sector awaits a raft of decisions on controversial issues parked by the Conservatives.
Speaking to the ADEPT National Traffic Managers’ Conference this week, Anthony Ferguson, the DfT’s deputy director, traffic technology, noted that new transport secretary Louise Haigh had signalled a move away from the culture wars issues pushed by her predecessor, Mark Harper.
However, he stressed: ‘That doesn’t mean to say that the Plan for Drivers in terms of the component parts of it are all no more. That is not true.
‘We are working through 30 commitments that were in the Plan for Drivers with ministers, trying to assess case by case whether there is something that ministers want to do, or don’t want to do.
‘Although the plan itself is a creature of the last government, some elements of it will persist.’
Asked by Highways about the previous government’s draft guidance on low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), which has been cited in a High Court case against a local authority, he said: ‘The draft guidance was draft, and we consulted on it. It’s still draft and therefore it doesn’t have status; it’s draft.
‘Ministers are deciding what they wish to do. At the moment the guidance is work in progress. What ministers have said, very clearly, is that they think that local authorities are best placed to make decisions.’
He added: ‘It has always been the Government’s policy that schemes like low traffic neighbourhoods, however you define them, or any traffic management schemes of any kind, are best done on the back of good community engagement. And that was really the thrust of what that guidance was about.’
Campaigners who are challenging Lambeth Council over its West Dulwich LTN have told Highways that their lawyers said the draft guidance was 'a material consideration' for the authority to have taken into account.
A material planning consideration is one which is relevant to making the planning decision in question - however 'the scope of what can constitute a material consideration is very wide and so the courts often do not indicate what cannot be a material consideration', Government guidance has said.
Parked, or moving?
Mr Ferguson listed a number of issues within the Plan for Drivers that are progressing, including street works reform, using the Section 50 process for electric vehicle charge points and a forthcoming change to make it ‘slightly easier’ for councils to get lane rental scheme powers.
He told delegates: ‘Ministers have come in having said in opposition that the delay in an announcement about pavement parking is overdue and “you’re a complete shower; do something about it”...so they have to do something about it.’
He added: ‘That is definitely something they have identified as a priority to come to a conclusion on and move the discussion forward.
'The moving traffic enforcement powers question is another one that is hanging because there are authorities who have asked for the powers and are still waiting. Again, that is something where the decision, I can assure you, is in the machine and is working its way through.
'We are trying to prioritise that as much as we can, so that we can make progress.'
On micromobility, specifically the long-running trials of e-scooters, Mr Ferguson said: ‘Ministers have come in who are much more focused than previous ministers. The trials we have will continue – some trials are going to expand.’
He also told the audience of local authority highways staff: ‘There’s a big transport component in devolution discussions that are going on within government and we are being asked to as ambitious as we can be.
‘Ministers are working their way through a long list of ambitions, particularly around devolution – I think we can see a resetting of the position on that fairly soon.’
Asked about funding for highway authorities, he disputed a suggestion that it was a simple issue but said: ‘I can guarantee that that funding of local government is going to be one of the biggest and hottest topics in the Budget.’
