Target of less traffic and more train trips 'not met'

The troubled Department of Transport has failed to meet national targets for cutting congestion or increasing rail travel, according to the Liberal Democrats.

Don Foster, the party's Transport spokesman, published an analysis of the department's annual report, that said the public service agreement targets set by the Treasury would not be met.

The party said the number of miles travelled on the railways had increased by 11.5 per cent since 1997, well below the target of a 15 per cent increase set for 2001-02.

Claims that the department had met a target to produce local plans to cut congestion hid the fact that only 7 per cent of local authorities believed they could stabilise traffic growth, the party said.

A target to increase spending from road charging was said to have been met, but the Liberal Democrats said that while powers to introduce local congestion charging schemes had been put in place, not one had actually been introduced.

Targets to achieve a four-fold increase in cycling were also unlikely to be met.

Mr Foster said: "The department ... has failed to meet its departmental targets. This is abysmal, especially as future levels of spending for the transport department depend upon meeting these objectives.

"Targets are set down for a reason, they are not merely pie in the sky. Until [it] meets these targets the British public will continue to wait for a world class transport system."