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In welcoming the spendin review cash boost, Alistair Darling, Secretary of State for Transport said:
"This settlement will allow us to take forward the delivery of the Government’s Ten Year Plan for Transport and the safe, efficient and reliable transport system the public demands.
"The Ten Year Plan represents our key reform in the delivery of the Government’s transport objectives, and came into effect just over a year ago in April 2001. By providing an unprecedented commitment to sustained levels of new investment over a decade, it provides the stable long-term framework needed to bring about real improvements to our transport system. Delivering the Plan is now the main task."
Some £370 million from unallocated capital within the Ten Year Plan has been brought forward into the Spending Review period to help to accelerate delivery.
The agreed funding is linked to a number of delivery reform measures, including continuing work to shorten lead times for major infrastructure projects, and a review of the planning process for transport projects; and strengthening the connection between national objectives for transport and local delivery (through multi-modal studies and local transport planning, for example).
And it’s in a footnote that it’s explained that ‘multi-modal studies’ includes cycling:
"Multi-modal studies take a comprehensive look at transport problems on a regional basis. They reject the old approach of focusing on one-dimensional solutions and instead look at the contribution that all modes of transport and traffic management might make – including road, rail, bus and light rail, as well as walking and cycling. They propose solutions to regional transport problems in which all types of transport can play a part."
