UK regional spending cuts do damage: Labour-led Commons committee

THE British trucking association concurred with some aspects of a Labour Party led parliamentary committee, which criticised the Conservative-led coalition government for cuts to Regional Development Agency spending in favour of a local approaches to economic development.


Concurring, Malcolm Bingham, road policy chief at the Freight Transport Association (FTA) said national transport had been sidelined by regional concerns which will not help the economy.


"If planning proposals on schemes like rail freight terminals and truck stops are only considered at a local level, and not looked at objectively, then we are really missing a trick and doing harm to the economy in the process," he added.


RDAs, to be eclipsed by Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), are made up of local authority and business bodies to promote the economy in key areas of planning, housing and transport.


The cross-party Transport Select Committee report "Transport and Economy" outlines how the loss of regional tier planning and institutions needed to develop strategic priorities for transport prevents schemes beyond the local getting ahead, said committee chairwoman Liverpool MP Louise Ellman.


"This has created a vacuum that has left regions without the institutions and arrangements they need to plan and prioritise sub-national transport schemes and other significant transport infrastructure," she said, according to London's International Freighting Weekly.


"Improving connectivity through these key international gateways simply does not feature prominently enough in the government's approach to transport investment and the economy," Ms Ellman added.
(Source:http://www.schednet.com)