City region authorities push for commitment to new transport laws in King’s Speech

The King’s Speech will be delivered on 7 November as the official State Opening of Parliament. The speech is written by the government and sets out legislative priorities for the upcoming term.

The Urban Transport Group, the UK’s network of city region transport authorities representing over 20M people, has written to prime minister Rishi Sunak to express the “imperative” need for new transport laws to be highlighted as a priority for the new Parliamentary term.

This comes after 2022’s Queen’s Speech promised to introduce a wide-ranging Transport Bill, which has seen no progress since.

The Urban Transport Group’s letter states: “At present, transport systems in many city regions of the UK are failing to deliver on their true potential”. It reminds the prime minister that “well-connected and sustainably resourced transport networks can enable economic growth and unlock opportunity, all whilst tackling social and economic inequality and addressing climate change”.

The letter reaffirms the value of the progress made through devolving transport powers and funds to city regions through the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS). It says: “Decisions on urban transport networks are best made at the appropriate tier of devolved governance so connections can be made between decisions on transport and those on decarbonisation, housing, local economic development, public health and the wider placemaking.”

However, it urges the government to “maintain and accelerate this momentum and work with Transport for London, which sits outside the CRSTS programme, and urgently requires certainty that central government will deliver on its commitment to provide the capital funding it needs for the next financial year”.

The Urban Transport Group also says that the new transport legislation should “have safety as the primary focus”.

To that end, it has suggested a number of legislative interventions that it would like to see the government “explore and urgently implement”.

Among these interventions is for the creation of Great British Railways (GBR). Formation of the governmental body to oversee the UK’s reformed rail infrastructure and services had made slow progress in 2022 and has gone quiet in the last six months. There was much media speculation that it was no longer a governmental priority, which was denied by the Department for Transport.

The Urban Transport Group would like to see legislation introduced to create GBR once and for all. It would like the legislation to include “the ability to strike new partnership agreements for Mayoral Combined Authorities with GBR to enable further integration of rail services with other local transport across the region”.

Additionally, it would like the GBR legislation to “give city region transport authorities a clear and statutory role in the new railway framework, so that their expertise and knowledge of local communities can be fully used in managing, planning and developing the rail network, and further devolution of services and infrastructure can be agreed where appropriate, and rail can become part of wider integrated transport networks”.

The Urban Transport Group would also like to see modified legislation around Transport and Works Act Orders (TWAOs). TWAOs are the method through which central government authorises the construction of new transport schemes, predominantly new railways or tramways. The Urban Transport Group would like to see decision making around TWAOs devolved to mayoral authorities and for there to be an update to the procedural requirements for implementing a TWAO.

Furthermore, there is a request for the government to “deliver long awaited guidance on Local Transport Plans to enable local transport authorities to deliver schemes and investment in their networks”.

The full list of the Urban Transport Group’s legislative priorities for the government is below.

Urban Transport Group chair and Transport for Greater Manchester managing director Steve Warrner said: “We are eager to hear about what the government intends to do on pressing transport issues in the next Parliamentary session.

“The King’s Speech can lay the way for providing long overdue clarity to some of transport’s big unanswered questions, such as ‘when will Great British Railways be created?’ and ‘how will local authorities be able to regulate e-scooters in their areas?’

“As transport authorities, we are already delivering services which are vital to people’s everyday lives – but we need greater financial and legislative clarity in order to fully realise transport’s economic, social and environmental potential in our city regions.”

Like what you've read? To receive New Civil Engineer's daily and weekly newsletters click here.