The Scottish Government has pledged to hand local roads authorities all the powers they need to introduce road user charging, having admitted that it will almost certainly fail to reach its target of a 20% reduction in car kilometres by 2030.
In a ‘renewed policy statement’, the Scottish government dropped the existing 20% target and promised to release a revised one, while still remaining committed to the overall policy aim of reducing car use.
Central to this plan appears to be encouragement for roads authorities, particularly urban ones, to introduce charging measures to manage demand.
Ministers even went so far as to state that any introduction of local or regional road user charging, or workplace parking licensing, would have 'significant revenue-raising potential'.
‘We will undertake a regulatory check of existing Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 powers for discretionary local road user charging schemes to allow local authorities and/or regional transport partnerships the option to implement these,’ the document states.
Officials added that while a number of the necessary technical regulations to give councils full powers under the 2001 Act have been made, ‘initial scoping identified that further regulations must be put in place to enable local authorities and regional transport partnerships (RTPs) to enforce schemes’.
The document states: ‘Once the necessary regulations and guidance are in place, it will be a decision for local authorities or RTPs whether and how to implement schemes.’
The Scottish government admitted that ‘with 2030 approaching, current trends indicate car use is increasing rather than in decline,’ and so ‘achieving the original target of a 20% reduction is highly unlikely’.
‘We will now therefore be revising this target, drawing on advice from the Climate Change Committee and other relevant evidence to establish a revised, longer-term target which is aligned with the timelines for the Climate Change Plan and supports our 2045 net zero target.’
After a steep fall in 2020 due to COVID restrictions, annual car kilometre travelled rose sharply again and are now somewhere around six billion above target. Audit Scotland has also said that ‘minimal progress’ on reducing car use has been made.
Transport secretary Fiona Hyslop and Cllr Gail Macgregor, environment and economy spokesperson for COSLA, said in a joint foreword: ‘We are also acutely aware that Scotland is largely a rural, sparsely populated country, and that we will always need vehicles, including private cars, in some capacity to enable people, goods and services to get around, to, and from Scotland and beyond.
‘Our policy approach will necessarily be a regional and differentiated one which takes into account place-specific measures to enable positive change in rural and island communities.
‘For decades now, we have all experienced the benefits that car use can provide – now we need to agree collectively and as a nation, that there can be benefits from reducing our car use. We must work together, as national and local government, to realise them.’
Scottish Government policy pledges:
- We will revise the existing car use reduction target, informed by the advice of the Climate Change Committee and other relevant evidence, to develop a new, longer-term target which will support our 2045 net zero target.
- We will undertake a regulatory check of existing Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 powers for discretionary local road user charging schemes to allow local authorities and/or regional transport partnerships the option to implement these.
- We will work with key stakeholders at national, regional, and local level to develop place-based and experience specific delivery plans to support reduced car use and alternative transport options.
- Along with a broad coalition of partners, we will drive a national communication and engagement campaign and set out a positive vision around how reducing car use can deliver outcomes for public health, air quality, and the environment.
Image credit: Shutterstock @Dave Primov
