What did we learn at the Local Transport Summit 2024?

Another successful Local Transport Summit saw Steer along with industry professionals from across the board congregate in Bedford this week. 

The summit centred on the challenges and opportunities for planning in geographies comprising smaller towns and cities with large rural hinterlands, with the key perspective of how planning, development and transport will unfold under a generational change of Government in the UK. 

England’s Economic Heartlands (EEH) and the issues affecting the region featured prominently with productivity issues, the difficulties of funding connectivity in geographies dominated by small and medium sized towns and cities and their rural hinterlands and how to sync up the jobs market and transit all being raised by panellists and speakers. 

The legislative agenda of the Government was a hot topic as well, with many commenting that the still relatively new administration is more managerial and mission-led but also still faces many barriers to its ambitions. 

Relief at the proposed end of (or significant reduction in) bidding for transport funding in favour of formula-led multi-year settlements and questions over the analytical and assurance processes were present in the room, but below are some of Steer’s key takeaways. 

The UK’s growing population needs more transit infrastructure: Despite being a booming region boasting big ticket industries like life sciences and research and development EEH’s productivity has slowed dramatically in recent years with speakers pinpointing congestion as the culprit. 

EEH’s population has grown significantly over recent years and is set to grow still further in the coming decades. The connectivity provided by East West Rail will go some way to alleviating the issues surrounding the movement of people which so often crosses local authority boundaries, and speakers rightly highlighted the work at Ely Junction which can improve rail and road capacity for both people and goods. 

The region is a lesson in transit infrastructure’s potential for both the economy and quality of life. 

Buses are important business going forward: A topic that currently never feels far from the headlines, the Government has made buses a priority with the Better Buses Bill promising authorities the chance to take total or increased control over local services. 

As we heard at the Local Transport Summit, buses have the power to boost the economy by increasing access to jobs and bringing people to high streets, but they also have unparalleled ability to improve life for the otherwise isolated and elderly in rural areas. 

Franchising is not the only option and indeed may be unsuitable for areas that aren’t large urban conurbations, however that doesn’t mean services can’t be improved through other means or by different variants of franchising. 

Congestion here featured heavily as one of the biggest factors in poor service quality and it’s clear that franchising and other solutions must be accompanied by similar schemes to reduce the time buses spend in traffic. Here Greater Manchester was held up as an example of political figures taking highway leaders to task over the issue to increase service punctuality. 

Start with the incremental and achievable: In an era of big visions speakers urged attendees not to forget about the immediately deliverable and lose sight of how to improve conditions on the ground first and foremost. 

Emotive examples were given of incremental changes to transit in rural communities and how this can make a real change to life for people in those communities and address rural poverty too. Other real-world examples were given of the opportunities to integrate outcomes for public health, regeneration, and new development. 

When the integrated national transport strategy (INTS) is on everybody’s lips, we need to keeping sight of immediate possibilities like syncing up the bus and rail networks over grand all-encompassing visions (although these of course have their place). Speakers spoke passionately about their requests for ‘integration’ – to plan for rapid decarbonisation and adaptation; to engage meaningfully including those groups with lower participation in typical consultations; and to seize the opportunities to integrate sustainable transport with development proposals and help ensure new housing is in the ‘right’ places.

We need to address the skills gap: Something which came up again and again was the question of how to deliver urban and transport planning at a time when transport planning vacancies prove difficult to fill. 

In the short, medium and long-term we need to promote a career in transport as a good option for people who want to achieve positive change and, as one speaker pointed out, many young people who’ve spent their teenage years playing Minecraft are pretty much already doing it. 

Thank you to everyone involved, particularly Landor LINKS, we can’t wait for next year!