Political Comparison Made Easy

CTP has chosen to extract details on this policy from two different sections of the party manifesto, pages detailed below

INVESTING IN INFRASTRUCTURE

Scotland's future economic prosperity depends on strategic investment in capital infrastructure. Previous governments have wasted too much money on poorly planned schemes and have refused to prioritise. We will accelerate the introduction of superfast broadband across Scotland to ensure our economic competitiveness is maintained.

We will introduce by November 2011 an updated Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR), providing an indication of the relative priority and timeframe for each project. We believe that all existing timetabled projects can be retained.

The updated STPR will prioritise resources on projects assessed to be of greatest economic benefit, which will put the focus on maintaining and upgrading existing core road and rail infrastructure. Scottish Conservatives believe that the replacement Forth Crossing is Scotland's top transport priority. In view of the importance of the North-East economy to Scotland, and underinvestment in the area under Labour and the Liberal Democrats, we rank the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route Scotland's second most important road project. We will also pilot the introduction of hard shoulder-running, initially on sections of M77 and M8.

We will use the borrowing provision made available by the UK Government to enable completion of the new Forth Crossing. This will ensure that other, worthy capital projects are not unnecessarily delayed, and that we can introduce a Road Maintenance Fund. As a result, we can also make commitments on the rail network, which will improve services and encourage modal shift. In particular, we will continue the Edinburgh-Glasgow Rail Improvement Programme. However, leveraging additional private investment is also important and so from the next renewal, we will make the Scotrail franchise available for an extended period of 10 years, making clear that we expect savings in subsidy or improved investment in rolling stock or better services in exchange. We will establish an implementation group to liaise with the UK Government to maximise potential reductions in journey times for Scots as a result of new high speed rail links to London.

We will retain existing lifeline ferry services but will make savings in the Scottish Government's ferry subsidy, partly by tendering the CALMAC and Northlink contracts in smaller bundles.

We will put the Bus Services Operators' Grant on a sustainable footing, and encourage Local Authorities to provide funding to supplement BSOG awards.

We will retain but reform the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT), and give it access to the full range of funding options, including PPP. We expect the SFT to deliver savings in capital procurement above its current level and will require all public bodies to seek advice from SFT for all procurement. Like all public bodies under our plans, the SFT will have to demonstrate the impact of its decisions on the Scottish economy.

We will introduce a Bill to reform Scottish Water, ending the reliance on taxpayer funding while protecting customers with an enhanced regulatory regime. Scottish Water will become a publicly-owned Public Interest Company, free from government control.

The Edinburgh Trams Project has become a national embarrassment. By now, trams should have been running in Edinburgh. Despite a positive review on progress from the Auditor General in 2007, since then neither the Lib Dem/SNP City of Edinburgh Council, Transport Initiatives Edinburgh, or the Scottish Government through Transport Scotland, have exercised any leadership of the project, which is now not only delayed and likely to be scaled back, but also substantially over budget. We will therefore not provide any more central government grant funding for Edinburgh trams.

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We will abolish Regional Transport Partnerships, with the exception of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, which will return to its previous state as solely a provider of services rather than a co-ordination body. Local authorities will be encouraged to work together where this is sensible. We will also require local authorities to subject road maintenance work to competitive tender.

Please see pages 6-7, and page 11, of the Scottish Conservative Party manifesto for this policy.

Please also see the Scottish Conservative Party spending plans and the Scottish Conservative Party summary budget which relate to their manifesto.

The party had no previous policy stated on its website for this topic for comparison.

Retrieved on 11/04/11 (5:50pm) from: 2011 Party Manifesto

Building sustainable, accessible, efficient transport of which Scotland can be proud

Transport Action Plan

Our economy depends on moving people and goods about the country as efficiently as possible. Individuals and families depend on getting around safely and easily.

Creating a sustainable transport system that meets these demands is a challenge, but with the right investment Scotland will benefit environmentally and economically.

Scotland's geography creates frequent barriers. High petrol and diesel costs are putting household budgets and business costs under pressure.

In conjunction with the green transport proposals in our Climate Change Action Plan, and by founding our transport plans on the principles of sustainability, accessibility and efficiency, we will ensure that Scotland gets the transport network our communities want and our economy needs.

For efficiency, we will:
• Deliver strategic transport projects, with a clear focus on safety, supporting the economy and improving public transport. We will use the borrowing powers of the new Scotland Act as a way of paying for large-scale infrastructure like the new Forth Crossing without cancelling every other sizeable project.
• Ensure the timely delivery of existing transport commitments, including the Borders Railway, the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, the Edinburgh-Glasgow Improvements Programme and strategic park & ride.
• Develop a fully-costed and timetabled plan to dual the A9 to Inverness.
• Make strategic investments to improve road safety and quality, for example taking forward plans to improve the A82, A83 and A96 roads.
• Improve commuter transport outside major cities and make public transport a more convenient option even in rural areas, for example by opening a new station at Conon for Inverness and reopening Kintore station as the first step towards the Aberdeen Crossrail.
• Make Scotland's trains fit for purpose by ensuring that future franchise agreements for Scotrail include the provision of better rolling stock for the long distance routes from the central belt to Inverness and Aberdeen, improved service and the provision of reliable 3G mobile phone coverage and free wi-fi. We will give the security and stability of longer contracts to help this happen.
• Work with the UK Government and its agencies to develop detailed proposals for a high speed rail link to Scotland. We will help achieve this more quickly by carrying out a scoping plan for the Scottish end of the project.
• Maintain a flexible Freight Facilities Grant scheme as part of efforts to promote rail freight as an alternative to road haulage.

For accessibility, we will:
• Introduce a Fairer Fares Charter to put the interests of rail passengers first. This will require fair and understandable ticket pricing to help customers find the best deal available and exacting standards for quality of service, including better information for passengers when services are disrupted.
• Keep the Scottish bus pass. All those with a bus pass will keep it. We propose to raise the age of entitlement progressively to 65. This reform will secure its future for the long term.
• Restore the Bus Route Development Scheme with targeted approaches, for example services at major acute hospitals and centres of employment.
• Continue to invest in lifeline ferry links serving Scotland's islands and coastal communities and give a fair deal on ferry fares to all of our islands.
• Work with the UK Government to introduce the pilot rural fuel discount scheme for the islands at the earliest opportunity.
• Improve winter resilience, keep up pressure on airport operators to continue to invest in snow clearing equipment so they can stay open in adverse weather conditions and support partnership agreements between transport authorities and farmers to keep Scotland's roads open during winter weather. We recognise that the severe weather conditions have put pressure on road maintenance budgets and will help local authorities to deal with potholes and damage on local roads and continue to invest in improving the condition of our national roads.
• Reintroduce business travel in the Air Discount Scheme for the Highlands and Islands and extend it to cover airport charges.
• Explore further steps to build on the success of the Air Route Development programme, which provided new ways to make international business connections.
• Reduce congestion and disruption caused by road works by consulting on plans to allow local authorities to charge utility services an hourly rate for highway lane closures that overrun.
• Support community transport and demand responsive transport schemes to improve social inclusion in areas where public transport availability is limited.
• Reduce the number of road accidents involving young people by learning from innovative international initiatives and supporting more young people to take advanced driver training.

Please see pages 47-48 of the Scottish Liberal Democrat Party manifesto for this policy.

The party had no previous policy stated on its website for this topic for comparison.

Retrieved on 18/04/11 (2:57am) from: 2011 Party Manifesto

Connectivity - Transport

Despite the reduction in our capital budgets, we will still take forward a major programme of investment in Scotland's transport infrastructure. Our new non-profit distributing (NPD) programme, developed by the Scottish Futures Trust, includes investment in important transport projects with a capital value of £1 billion. These are:

• the Borders Railway project
• M8 Baillieston to Newhouse, M74 Raith Junction and M8, M73 and M74 network improvements
• the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route and A90 Balmedie.

And through Network Rail's Regulated Asset Base (RAB) we will also take forward the important Edinburgh-Glasgow Improvement programme which will see the electrification of much of the central Scotland rail network and more-frequent and faster journeys between Edinburgh and Glasgow, including services of just over half an hour.

Other rail investment is seeing an increase in train services on the Airdrie to Bathgate railway to four trains per hour; the deployment of the new fleet of longer electric trains between Glasgow, Ayrshire and Inverclyde, and Edinburgh and East Lothian; and an increase in long distance services to Inverness on the Highland Mainline from nine to eleven trains per day. Our proposals will also mean faster and more-frequent connections between Inverness and Aberdeen, and between these cities and the central belt. We will work with train operating companies to roll out the availability of wi-fi on trains in Scotland.

Network Rail's decision to devolve its Scottish operations opens up the possibility of a re-integration of rail services in Scotland. We will make the case to the UK government for this integration to take place so that we can make delivery of rail services more efficient for the benefit of rail users in Scotland.

We will continue work to deliver the Forth Replacement Crossing, on time and on budget. And, among other projects, we will continue development of a route strategy and improvements for the A96 and dualling the A9. The A9 is a key artery in Scotland's transport network and we will continue to invest in improvements to the road on a continuing and progressive basis. We are fully committed to dualling the A9 from Perth to Inverness and have fast-tracked work to extend the dualled section at Crubenmore. Other priorities include significant investment for both the proposed Glasgow Fastlink and for the modernisation of the Glasgow Subway.

In recent months the SNP government has provided an extra £19 million to deal with the damage caused to our roads by the severe winter weather. That includes additional resources for our trunk road network. This means maintenance teams are working across Scotland at the moment with the target of repairing the damage to our trunk roads by June of this year. We will continue to prioritise road maintenance in the face of the significant reductions in ScotlandÕs capital budget by the Westminster government.

Our plans will also include progress on a new integrated ticketing system for Scotland and increased investment in our ferries. We will continue with Road Equivalent Tariff on the current routes, and look to roll out to the Argyll and the Clyde islands in light of the Western Isles pilot. We will also keep our bridges toll free.

Please see page 13 of the Scottish National Party manifesto for this policy.

The party had no previous policy stated on its website for this topic for comparison.

Retrieved on 16/04/11 (12:22pm) from: 2011 Party Manifesto

A Public Transport Renaissance

Only the Scottish Green Party has the vision to break with transport policies that have barely changed since the 1960s, policies that are no longer serving the public good. There's a clear need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport and to end our dependence on dwindling oil supplies. But there's also an opportunity for transport policy to deliver social, environmental and economic improvements.

A step change in transport policy

We will begin a long-term shift in investment away from building extra capacity in the trunk road network while protecting maintenance of the existing road network, which has suffered so badly over recent winters. Instead, we'll invest those resources in demand management strategies.

Comprehensive access to broadband would allow the development of home-working, which has the potential to ease the pressure on our transportation networks. Travel planning services are one of the best value ways of reducing demand for road travel, and can save people money when they find public transport options which work for them. Eventually road pricing will have a role to play, but such schemes have to be affordable especially in rural areas.

With better use of the planning system the distance people need to travel to work and to access services can be reduced. A 'Living Streets' approach will build neighbourhoods that are safer, healthier and happier. The capital investment needed for walking and cycling is minimal, but the economic benefit is huge, especially given the improvement to public health. We'll ensure that by the end of the next Parliament active travel will receive at least 10 per cent of the transport budget; walking and cycling must be a particular priority for school transport.

Public transport has become less and less affordable, and we will allocate £75m a year in revenue support to bring fares down. A further £650m over the next Parliament will be allocated to a fund for extra public transport infrastructure, including park & ride facilities, active travel, further rail electrification and opening railway stations.

Workplaces have a role to play in supporting these changes, with showers and space for bike parking, and workplace parking charges to help pay for cut-price public transport deals and bike-to-work schemes. In cities, public bike-hire schemes as well as car clubs have a big role to play in cutting the number of cars on the roads.

We'll review Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance to ensure environmental, social and economic costs and benefits are fully reflected in Government investment.

Many local projects have remained unfunded because of the focus on roads - Glasgow and Aberdeen Crossrail projects, completion of the Edinburgh tram network, renewal and expansion of the Glasgow Subway, alternative ways of linking Glasgow airport with the rail network, completion of the Borders Railway through to Carlisle, and construction of passing loops on single track lines.

We will also open old and new local stations across Scotland such as Newburgh, Blackford, Bonnybridge, Grangemouth, Newtonhill and Kintore, and improvements to rural services such as a Dornoch Firth crossing.

Maintaining our roads

The backlog of road repairs is enormous - over £2bn according to Audit Scotland - and yet the SNP administration plans to spend at least £1.6bn on an extra Forth Road Bridge. We won't proceed with this plan, but will instead support the £122m repair of the existing bridge should the dehumidification approach not prove successful.

We will also halt plans for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route. This road would increase both pollution and car-dependency, as well as diverting money from other key local services such as schools.

Other major road projects will be reviewed but a continual expansion in trunk road capacity will not be supported.

We will cut the national speed limit to 50mph on single carriageways to make roads safer and to help cut the costs of driving.

We'll support the development of electric transport, by working with Scottish companies which are creating jobs here developing and manufacturing vehicles, batteries and rapid-charging technology.

Positive on public transport development

The Scottish Green Party will work with the rail industry and trades unions to develop a non-profit body capable of bidding for the Scotrail franchise in 2014. We'll provide more flexible support for rail freight, recognising that many companies want to transfer to rail but face a barrier given the capital investment needed.

We'll develop detailed preparation for High Speed Rail in Scotland, with a view to taking specific proposals to UK Government building the case for a commitment to extend the network to Glasgow and Edinburgh, with options to go further north from there.

We'll consult on proposals for greater regulation of bus services, including a wider role for the Traffic Commissioner. Public transport is a public service, and the market alone will never protect many of the routes people depend upon.

Accessible transport also needs action from Government; some big operators have made improvements but there are still services running which people with disabilities find simply unusable.

We'll support reductions in public transport fares over the course of the four year term, through a shift from road-building to public transport spending, and we will oppose any attempt to end the concessionary travel scheme for older people and people with disabilities.

And an end to airport expansion

We'll oppose the return of any form of aviation subsidy, and use the planning system to prevent further capacity expansion in Scottish airports.

We'll end the use of internal UK mainland flights by the Scottish Government except in emergencies, and push for the same policy throughout the public sector; flights to any destination within reach of Eurostar should become the exception rather than the norm.'Lifeline' flights to Scotland’s islands are an essential service, and will be supported.

Please see pages 12-13 of the Scottish Green Party manifesto for this policy.

The party had no previous policy stated on its website for this topic for comparison.

Retrieved on 04/05/11 (11:34pm) from: 2011 Party Manifesto

Getting Scotland moving

Scottish Labour will not close-off any funding mechanism as we work towards delivering the world-class infrastructure that our businesses and economy rely on for competitiveness and connectivity. We know that high speed broadband will be as important for economic growth in the future as good roads and railways. We will appoint a Digital Champion and bring forward a strategy to improve the quality and coverage of broadband, bringing pressure on the UK Government to deliver its commitment to roll out broadband access to all British homes by 2015.

Scottish Labour will begin to tackle the maintenance backlog on Scotland's roads, ensuring that those with statutory entitlements to dig up Scotland's roads are required to repair the surface timeously and to acceptable standards. We are also committed to finding finance to complete the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, the M8 Baillieston to Newhouse upgrade, the M74 Raith Interchange, and to deliver improvements to the M8, M73 and M74. We also aim to prepare a programme of continuous improvements to the A82, A1, A9, A77, A75, A95 and A96.

We will deliver the new Forth Replacement Crossing. This is a vital project to safeguard an essential link in the country's transport network and will be the largest infrastructure project in a generation. We will deliver on our commitment to empower the public to choose the name of the new bridge.

The current economic climate means that the decision to increase VAT has raised the price of petrol at the pump by nearly three pence per litre, punishing motorists and hitting rural communities particularly hard. We believe these increases are unfair and we will continue to push the UK Government to reverse them.

We will be advocates of high-speed rail links to London and Europe and will seek to future-proof Scotland's network to ensure this is a possibility. Our ambition is to see direct services from Scotland to Paris and Brussels. Scottish Labour will take forward the Edinburgh/Glasgow Rail Improvement Project (EGIP), including seeking to improve journey times between Glasgow and Edinburgh to under 40 minutes, taking forward Crossrail and delivering more commuting opportunities from Ayrshire and Renfrewshire, and from rural Lanarkshire to Edinburgh and Glasgow. We will consider all options for the Scotrail franchise, including public and not for profit models and will work to deliver free Wi-Fi and 3G mobile phone coverage as part of the next contract. We will reinstate plans for the Glasgow Airport Rail Link.

We will support the modernisation of Glasgow's subway and will campaign to ensure that any changes to the East Coast Main Line do not disadvantage Lanarkshire - Edinburgh commuters. We will seek to progress the expansion of through-ticketing in Scotland. Scottish Labour will set up an Air Route Marketing Fund to support new, direct air routes to Scotland - particularly from the emerging markets - during their first two years of operation. We will also retain the Air Discount Scheme, which has proved invaluable for our island communities.

Everybody benefits from lower levels of congestion and pollution when we take heavy lorries off the road and move freight onto the railways. Scottish Labour will support the Freight Facilities Grant to encourage the transfer of freight from road to rail. We will also look at what can be done to make better use of inland waterways and improve links to ports, such as Grangemouth.

Scottish Labour will make the Road Equivalent Tariff pilot permanent in the Western Isles and will widen coverage to ferry services to the Clyde and the Argyll isles. We will work with the current ferry operator, with an ambition to reinstate a passenger service between Rosyth and Zeebrugge and ensure that all other options for a new service are maximised.

Scottish Labour will make certain our communities are served by better bus services through strengthening regulation. We will improve the Green Bus Fund to help local authorities and transport providers purchase greener, hybrid buses, securing highly skilled jobs and improving the air quality in our towns and cities. The Fund should also be directed to ensure the current bus fleet meets a higher environmental grade.

We believe that the Scottish Government must take a lead in making the switch to greener modes of transport. Scottish Labour will phase out diesel and petrol cars for government use, including ministerial cars, and replace them with greener hybrid or electric vehicles. We also need to invest in new infrastructure for electric vehicles, with an ambitious target for 10,000 electric charging points by 2015.

Scottish Labour is also determined to see walking and cycling become a more convenient, attractive and realistic choice for many short journeys and will retain the target of ensuring that 10 per cent of trips be made by bike by 2020. To achieve this, we will ensure that active travel receives a higher proportion of the overall transport budget and promote the Cycle Friendly Employer Award Scheme, which recognises workplaces that put in place measures to create a culture of cycling. Where possible, Scottish Labour will work with partners to encourage bicycle banks - like those developed in London - and tube-style bike maps, to promote the growth of cycling in our towns and cities.

Please see pages 18-21 of the Scottish Labour Party manifesto for this policy.

Please see this SCREEN GRAB of the previous version of this policy from the party website.

Retrieved on 12/04/11 (3:11pm) from: 2011 Party Manifesto