Letter: Road and rail

Letter: Road and rail

Sir: The deal by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and Chancellor Gordon Brown to earmark road toll revenues for public transport investment is one whose significance has not received the public recognition it deserves ("Prescott bins the spin for real policies", 30 December).

No longer will councils' transport investment packages have to rely entirely upon the unpredictable central government grant regime. For cities such as Edinburgh the agreement presents the opportunity to look to the long term and deliver a world-class public transport system. Without this it will be impossible to achieve our traffic reduction targets and the strong economy and healthy environment to which we aspire.

For years it was widely perceived that Treasury resistance to earmarking would eventually win through.

Cllr DAVID BEGG

Convener of Transportation

Edinburgh