-to what degree can UK government policies improve present traffic situation and reduce the impact on the environment to achieve sustainable development.
Introduction
Over last 2 decades, as the population increase rapidly, urban areas in many counties have witnessed a dramatic growth accordingly, at present, nearly half of the world’s population lives in cities, and it’s expected that over the next 3decades, most people that increase in global population will also live the urban areas. Many countries are towards the way towards urbanisation which means cities of which grow rapidly and massively, and large amount of migration pour into these areas. In Europe, the urban population was 51.2 million in 1950, it’s predicted by the year of 2030, and this figure will amount to 79.6 million in 2030(Cohen, 2006).
Urbanisation, it also stands for low average cost of providing infrastructure, education and health care, and other basic services (Cohen, 2006), however, it’s also attended by many serious problems that challenge the surrounding environment and society current situation such as: traffic congestion, pollution, over-crowd public places, high price houses and consumer goods, increased crime rate, fierce competition which are difficult to manage.
Facing the problems that become increasingly sticky, government carried out a rang of measures to improve the situation and hope to achieve sustainable development, the most widely used definition describes sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”( Brundtland, 1987,p43 ),as this essay will focus on the traffic problems and traffic pollution in UK, firstly, I will reveal the traffic problems of UK’s current situation, secondly, introducing the policies that the government adopted to tackle the problems, then move on to analysis how sustainable the solutions are.
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Till now, a series of initiatives are implemented by UK Department for Transport to encourage sustainable travel, meanwhile to promote healthier lifestyle and to improve local environment. Great efforts have been made by the government, based on the statistic and research have done before, in my opinion, to a large extent the problems can be solved by the sustainable development policies in the long run.
Main body
Traffic related problems
Transport, road transport in particular generates a huge amount of pollution and it is [well known and evident]hedge] that this is the major factor contributing to global warming, (Neale, 1997) .The impact that transport has on environment can be measured by estimating carbon dioxide emissions (Leith, 2007) In 2007, transport accounts for 24% all carbon dioxide emissions in the UK, rising from 20% (117 million tonnes) in 1990. Carbon dioxide emissions come from road transport increased by 11% between 1990 and 2007(Department for transport, 2007).
[The] UK Government pointed out in the White Paper on the Future of Transport: ‘‘Road traffic is a major contributor to air pollution. Up to 24,000 vulnerable people are estimated to die prematurely each year, and similar numbers are admitted to hospital, because of exposure to air pollution, much of which is due to road traffic’’ (DETR, 1998)[paraphrase this].
Another problem of transport is traffic congestion, new road building projects are planned to meet the traffic demand, but more often than not, are being neglected that they can bring more traffic problems and noise pollution; moreover, it has become a striking symbol of unsustainable development in UK and many other countries (Neale, 1997).
In order to find out the effects of traffic-related pollution in urban areas and come out with possible policy to deal with it, in 1999, a national survey was conducted and it indicated that 66.6% of 147 surveyed respondents regard the effects that road traffic has on the health in urban areas of UK as being serious or very serious, and (70.5%) view traffic exhaust pollution and 41.1% consider noise pollution as a serious or very serious issue (Ison, 2002)
Government solutions
In 1998, Transport White Paper as integrated transport strategy carried out with the aim to change the travel habits and arouse people’s the realisation to reduce car-based travel to order to lessen the traffic congestion caused pollution and to bring additional health benefits (Coleman, 2000), therefore, the adoption of Sustainable Travel Plans play an important role in this strategy to fulfill the goal that is to make the transport better for Everyone as the slogan of Transport White Paper suggests (Rye et al, 2000).
Low Carbon Transport: A Greener Future(2009), a strategy designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport , which is coincide with Climate Change Act 2008 and enable UK to meet the requirements of the carbon budgets by 2022, calling for businesses and citizens to take collectively actions to reduce the impact of transport has on climate change and carbon emission by using green transport(Department for transport,2009) , the cycle to work scheme is encouraged greatly by the government by offering tax-free bikes to company to promote healthier travel to work and reduce environment pollution.
In recent
[last 3 paragraphs read like a 'soup' made from the referenced papers]
In responding to comply with policies and take actions, for both organisations and individuals make commitment to the environment, the implement of the Sustainable Travel Plans especially meaningful in reducing carbon dioxide emission and striving for a sustainable future, since walking and cycling cause no carbon dioxide emission and resource consumption, in addition, using public transport and car sharing such kind of environmentally-friendly alternatives exhausting much less carbon dioxide emission than driving alone, furthermore, it can improve the quality[of what?], alleviate national and global environmental problems, such as climate change, global warming.
“Sustainable Travel Plans(or Green Commute Plans) is a package of measures tailored to needs of individual and aimed at promoting greener, cleaner travel choices and reducing reliance on the car thus reduce the impact on the environment”(Department for Transport, 2009). It’s including: walking, cycling, public transport, car clubs, car sharing, eco-driving and low carbon vehicles (the Scottish Government, undated), table below are the measures of Sustainable Travel Plans:
(Source:The Scottish Executive Central Research Unit 2000, p18)
The first Green Commute Plan in UK was adopted in Nottingham in 1995, Nottinghamshire County Council and a number of local employers were intend to make a public commitment to encourage their staff to use sustainable transport to travel to work and to reduce the impact on environment (Emerson et al, 1999). Since then GCP is developed by the adoptions of a number of public and private organisations including Nat West and Hewlett Packard (Newson, 1997).At present, some big companies in UK such as: Pfizer, Stockley, Park, AstraZeneca and Boots also have their own Green Commuter Plans. Green Commute Plan has witnessed a steady increase since 1990 peeking at the implementation of reducing car-based travel by the department of environment (Coleman, 1999).
Evidence and statistic
In order to find out how feasible and sustainable policies are, numerous researches have been done, in The Effects of Smarter Choice Programs in the Sustainable Travel Towns: Full Report which was published by Department for Transport in 2010, this full independent report examined every aspect of traffic and served to evaluate the results of 3 'Sustainable Travel Towns'- Darlington, Peterborough and Worcester in which Sustainable Travel including cycling, walking, public transport, and decreases usage in cars is being adopted (Department for Transport, 2010).
The report indicate that the using of bus increased tremendously in Peterborough and Worcester, while Darlington showed a slight declining, but the growth in Worcester and Peterborough were dramatic: 760,000 extra trips p.a. and 2.6 million extra trips p.a. respectively Bus use grew substantially in Peterborough and Worcester during the period of the Sustainable Travel Town work, whereas it declined in Darlington (though the rate of decline slowed from 2006 onwards). The degree of growth in Peterborough and Worcester was dramatic: 760,000 extra trips p.a. in Worcester, and 2.6 million extra trips p.a. in Peterborough. The car driver trips of household travel in three cities reduced by 7% to 10% in three places based on that figures of 2004’s report, and this helps to lessen the traffic congestion to a great deal, moreover, the carbon saved from the decrease in car driver journeys that below 50km in the Sustainable Travel Towns achieved a percentage of 0.6% reduction in individual emission compared to the figure of 2004, and the carbon savings of an individual can amount to approximate 50kg CO2 across the three towns (Department for Transport, 2010).
The Department for Transport concluded that implement of Sustainable Travel in three towns is very successful in terms of carbon savings which is an important element of reducing carbon emission, and it also bring about additional substantial benefits, evident congestion relief, improved air quality, cost saving, the report also gives an example of two employees who use car sharing to commute, each of then can save £4,000 a year, furthermore, it can be of great assistance to fulfill government objectives.
In research: Mitigating Transport's Climate Change Impact in Scotland: Assessment of Policy Options, the finding suggested that the join force of the policy options in the Central Scenario would achieve a reduction of approximately 1.35 MtCO2 p.a. in 2022, while another project called Ambitious Scenario would achieve 2.15 Mt CO2 p.a. in 2022, an estimated reduction of 44% from 1990 total transport emissions.
(Scottish transport statistics, 2009), the above mentioned researches are region based, however, if the implement in small places can be successful, taking the country as a whole, to a large extend, sustainable transport can be achieved.
The annual publication Sustainable development indicators in your pocket 2008 which measured the UK progress in sustainable development, this research outlined 68 aspects together with the evidence which can examine the progress, the study associated with transport related data shows emissions of six greenhouse gases in 2007 were 639 million tonnes, 17% reduction compare with that of 1990, and this almost fulfill the goal of 18 reduction of Kyoto protocol. Emission of carbon dioxide was estimated to be 544 million tonnes, 8 per cent lower than in 1990, between 1990 and 2006, emissions of air pollutants were decreased: ammonia (NH3) by 18 per cent, nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 46 per cent, particulates (PM10) by 50 per cent and sulphur dioxide (SO2) by 82 per cent, during this period the GDP grew by 48 per cent.
[need some comment, analysis or evaluation with all this data]
Conclusion
As urbanisation becomes increasingly severe ,transport related problems become one of symbols of being unsustainable(Neale, 1997), and as transport plays an important role in meeting the challenges that the urbanisation bring about, sustainable transport initiatives which design to combat with traffic related problems make great contribution in minimising negative impact on environment, traffic stress and congestion, improving air quality, researches show that an increase percentage using of green transport methods instead of car-based travel can lessen the traffic caused environmental pollution and to bring additional health benefits, meanwhile can be supportive to economic growth, improve health and life quality( Department for Transport, 2009),
The data of researches also indicate that the resolutions are effective in achieving government’s goals, to a large extent the problems can be solved by the sustainable policies, despite huge amount of money need to be invested in infrastructures and results are not so obvious in the short run, the achievements are satisfactory, moreover, it’s predictable that the targets set in the initiatives are achievable if continuing efforts are being made, and most likely these areas are full of opportunities that researches can be carry forward to examine whether these targets are being fulfilled with reference to taking current statistics as the base year.[needs to be clearer]
Reference:
Leith A., 2007, Travel to Work in Nottingham: An Analysis of Environmental Impacts and Mitigating Policies, School of Geography, University of Leeds,
Chris B., Gallent N., Sustainable Commuting: A Contradiction In Terms?
Department for transport, 2009, low carbon transport, a greener future, A Carbon Reduction Strategy for Transport
Coleman, C. 2000, Green commuter plans and the small employer: an investigation into the attitudes and policy of the small employer towards staff travel and green commuter plans, Transport Policy 7 (2000) 139–148
David B., Kenneth J. B., 2003, Transport, the environment and sustainable development, charter2 PP19-52, Regional Studies, 33: 3, 274 — 280,
Neale, A. (1997) Extending the scope of environmental management: the case of company-assisted travel in Britain, Business Strategy and the Environment, volume 6, pp9–17,
Tony E. and Romney T., 1999, GREEN COMMUTER PLANNING:
A ROLE FOR BUSINESS, Business Strategy and the Environment, volume8, pp82-87,
Tom R. and David M., 2000, Green Commuter Plans, Do They Work? The Scottish Executive Central Research Unit 2000,
Cohen, B. (2006) Urbanization in developing countries: Current trends, future projections, and key challenges for sustainability, Technology in Society 28 (2006) 63-80
Brundtland, 1987, the Brundtland Report, Our Common Future
Department for Transport, 2009, Delivering Sustainable Low Carbon Travel: An Essential Guide for Local Authorities
Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR),1998. A new deal for transport: better for everyone, Cm3950. The Government’s White Paper on the Future of Transport, The Stationery Office, London.
Department for Transport, 2010, The Effects of Smarter Choice Programmes in the Sustainable Travel Towns: Full Report
Stephen Ison a,*, Stuart Wall b,2002 Attitudes to traffic-related issues in urban areas of the UK and the role of workplace parking charges, Journal of Transport Geography 10 (2002) 21–28
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 2008, Sustainable development indicators in your pocket 2008
Scottish Transport Statistics,2009, Mitigating Transport's Climate Change Impact in Scotland:Assessment of Policy
[put in alphabetical order; use inverted commas and italics to separate titles and publications]
Good. Clear structure and argument. Needs more balance and evaluation. Too much raw data. Grammar needs improving. Some passages close to plagiarism, and difficult to read.
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