This seems to be a fair summary of the Tory transport manifesto:
- Building ‘Northern Powerhouse Rail' and investing in the ‘Midlands Rail Hub'
- Making an £28.8 billion investment in strategic and local roads
- Invest £1 billion in completing a fast-charging network
- Restoring “many of the Beeching lines” with £500m funding
- Implementing a pothole-filling programme as part of the National Infrastructure Strategy costing about £2 billion
- Creating a £350 million ‘Cycling Infrastructure Fund'
- Reviewing the future of HS2 with the clear implication that ti will be scrapped to save £81 billion
So, there will be an overall considerable reduction in investment in public transport.
Peanuts will be invested in rail reopening and cycling. Much more will go into car re-charging.
And massively more will go into roads.
And this will happen at a time when everyone agrees the priority is to reduce carbon-based travel. But the Tories seem to be going in the opposite direction.
The danger that this thinking represents to us all cannot be overstated.
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Roads will still be needed…….unless you can think of another way to route goods around the country
But do we need that scale of investment and tiny amounts for alternatives?