Transport’s challenges are pressing – there’s no more time for small steps

THE TRANSPORT PLANNING process is not short of rules and conventions. Anyone who has written a transport strategy or developed a business case for a project surely knows the intricacies of the Department for Transport’s extensive TAG (Transport Appraisal Guidance), and how to set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) objectives for strategies.

But how should this project-specific box ticking detail fit into the big picture? Given the scale of challenges such as climate change or a stagnating economy, do you ever get the feeling that it’s all…a bit narrow , and more administratively cautious and safe, than visionary?

Where does genuine long term thinking fit in? We know we need to radically cut carbon emissions from transport. We know we need to reduce the number of people at risk of social exclusion. We know that the economy is sluggish and transport can play a big role in kick starting it again.

So why are the rules by which decisions are made so hidebound and slow in changing? It’s not that they are not changing at all. There have been widely-welcomed consultations on changes to TAG, as well as the Treasury Green Book, which may or may not result in more good things being done. But is our canvas too limited for the circumstances we now need to grapple with?

A counter-point I often hear is that changes to rules and the way things are done needs to be evidence-led. With which I agree. But in my view the way that we have viewed evidence has an inbuilt disposition in favour of iterative change, as opposed to looking at the evidence for (and against) radical change. Over the decades some radical policy initiatives have been enacted over significant scales. In just my career I have had the pleasure of directly working on Cycle Demonstration Towns and Future Transport Zones. Similar approaches have included the sustainable travel towns project , and the policy agenda in London favouring public transport and cycling. These are relative rarities however. Even the bus franchising in Manchester is seen as a radical step in the UK, though more places are fast following suit.

Much of current policy on transport at least pays lip service to addressing things like carbon emissions and modal shift. Yet the findings from such significant policy agendas rarely result in necessary changes in rules on how things are done to make such radical policy agendas more likely, and get the institutional backing they need to meet the scale of the challenges that we need to address. And for that, suitable leadership is essential.

Which brings us to the political angle. As my own recent research about what influences local councillors shows (available here tinyurl.com/3zpc6ap3), as well as the message of the opinion piece from Oxfordshire’s transport lead Andrew Gant in TAPAS (30 July 2025) previously, the challenges to enacting change certainly exist - but are not insurmountable.

While the political dimension can be perceived as a ‘sensitive issue’ that encourages caution in our work, political drive and vision can also make delivery much easier. You just have to look at Mayor Tracy Brabin’s goal to have spades in the ground on a new tram system in West Yorkshire by 2028 as an example of that, as well as the vision of numerous mayors, notably Andy Burnham, to deliver bus franchising, along with some bold moves on achieving modal shift and reducing neighbourhood traffic impacts.

However, all too often we rely on the vision and sheer force of will of a few people to deliver radical changes, while we professionally tinker at the edges in the hope that somehow better things will be delivered this time.

A critical first step is providing the opportunity to radically rethink how things are done in practice , as well as in policy . A space where how we do things can be explored and challenged in a manner that is positive and inclusive.

I help to organise the annual Mobility Camp ‘unconference’. Establishing it was an act of challenging how things were done. How could a meeting where you come up with the agenda on the day possibly work? The fact that we are still here eight years on, speaks volumes about how taking a risk to challenge the ways things are done can be accepted and embraced as part of professional development .

People come away inspired; but more instructive to me is that given the opportunity to think more radically, people take it. And this isn’t just people ‘thinking and not doing’, as doing very much results from it. We have had people develop and get funding for car-free projects, start work on community projects, and even change their jobs so they can do more radical things.

This year, in line with my proposition in this article, the theme of the Camp is Re-thinking the Rules, and it is perhaps fitting that this year we are holding Mobility Camp in Cardiff, on 29th September. Wales has been no stranger to doing things radically, as the work of the Roads Review or radical changes to WelTAG pushed forward by former transport minister Lee Waters have shown.

It required strong leadership to secure radical change in the face of standard practice, and steering it not only through the political process, but against a professional establishment not always comfortable with ‘doing things differently’. Indeed the relationship between the politician and the practitioner is a fascinating dimension to this, worthy of much greater study and discussion .

The scale and the immediacy of the challenges that we face mean that small changes to how we do things is not enough. We need to explore the kinds of initiatives required to bring radical changes sufficient to meet the challenges ahead, and how to give them a real chance to deliver.